


Baby Bottle Brews

by WheresMyNaya



Series: Coffee Breaks Trilogy [3]
Category: Glee
Genre: Coffee Breaks Trilogy, F/F, brittana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 86,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29935926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WheresMyNaya/pseuds/WheresMyNaya
Summary: **Trilogy to Coffee Breaks** Now with a bun secured in Santana's oven, the newlyweds go through the ups and the downs of pregnancy.
Relationships: Sam Evans/Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce
Series: Coffee Breaks Trilogy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/274782
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

_One Week Later, January 2017;_

To say things have been a _little_ busy since New Year's Eve at ShowTime's would be an understatement; things have been _crazy stupid_ busy! I guess we should've expected it to be like this though; we just really weren't prepared that the news would make things like this. Santana and I are featured in almost every magazine, some even dedicating full pages to us and the pregnancy, which means the paparazzi are constantly following us. And I mean _constantly_ following us, it's like they don't ever sleep! Do you know how much Santana _hates_ paparazzi? A lot, like they're her least favorite kind of people in the world. So now that she's pregnant and her fuse for them has been shortened considerably, it's never a pretty sight when they invade our little bubble.

I mean, just yesterday I had to physically pry her fingers off of a cup of hot chocolate before it ended up on one ballsy photographer who was hiding out in the bushes beside us when we were on our way to pick Bella up from school. I'm pretty sure if I wasn't able to pull her cup away at the last second, we would've probably had some type of charges brought up on us; assault with a deadly, scalding, cup of chocolate milk maybe?

That's just our private, well not so private now that everyone's breathing down our backs, life; at SnixxJuice, it's a whole different world.

Santana was used to getting fan mail, she'd even share some of the letters kids would send her with me, but she never got boxes full before. Jenna would literally have to make three trips from the mail room because the amount of letters not only she got but I got too were just too much to fit in her usual letter bin. People sent little drawings, letters, notes, stuffed animals, bibs with unicorns on them, bracelets, you name it, it's probably in one of the boxes. We knew we had a big fan base, but we didn't know it was _this_ big. Jenna would offer to skim through the letters just in case someone decided to send something hateful, believe it or not there are _still_ people out there who would rain on our parade like that, but Santana just told her to sort everything by letters and gifts and at the end of the day we'd take a bin home and sit on the couch together and just read through everything.

People are so nice.

Not only was the mailroom booming, but with the Grammys coming up next month, Santana was doing nothing but interviews and meetings. It worried me that she might be pushing herself too hard because sometimes it's like she forgets that it's just not her she's caring for anymore, it's the baby too and I can only do so much without pissing her off. I have faith that she knows her limit though, she knows when she needs to take a little break and she knows when she needs to take it easy, but that doesn't really stop me from checking up on her.

I have to do that subtly though because she hates when I _baby_ her. I try to tell her that I'm just checking on her and making sure she's doing okay, but she's still a little skeptical of it.

Even I have been pretty busy with the studio, not really in the same way Santana has been busy with Grammy stuff, but I'm really thankful that I have Jeremy now. With how hectic things are lately, I can see just how fast I can slip into my old habits of working double shifts and spreading myself so thin because it's easy. That adrenaline I get from choreographing just keeps me going all day because that's all I do _all_ day and if it's easy for me to slip back into that old routine, I know it's easy for Santana to slip into hers too.

Which is what we are currently arguing about now..

"It's not like I don't find you sneaking work emails at home when you're _supposed_ to be looking up home remedies for cramps." I fought back sternly; mirroring my wife's folded up arms and narrowed eyes. She had called me into her office about 15 minutes ago because I spent an hour or two at the studio when I was supposed to be using those hours to rest before going into see Heather and Colton. I was trying to be secretive about it, not even going to lie, but that's only because I wanted to come home early! She still wasn't having it though.

"Brittany, that's different." She fired back, "I'm _home_ , you're not. You're out working yourself to the fucking bone when you're supposed to be home with me resting too." I cringed at hearing her use my full name but I kept my stance.

"It's not different, you're supposed to be at home doing anything that's not work related." I replied keeping my voice as steady as hers. "And that was _one_ time I didn't come home when I was supposed, San, once! And I told you that I was trying to come home early that day, that's why I had to stay late at SnixxJuice.."

"And _did_ you come home early that day? Because from what I remember, you didn't." I slowly shut my eyes and clamped my teeth together. She was right; I didn't come home early like I planned because Colton was late and more bruised up than the last time.

" _You_ are the one that's pregnant, Santana, not me! How can I provide for you if you're putting all these restrictions on me?"

"So?" She huffed, her brows scrunching together, "I'm still going to worry about your health even if you aren't the one carrying!" Her voice got louder by the end of her sentence and I already felt guilty that I was causing her to get loud but she didn't stop there, "And restrictions?" She laughed sarcastically and shook her head, "I told you to cut your damn near 60 hour work week to 40, that's all."

"You know it's been busy for me too, I can't just leave Jeremy alone to handle it all."

"Yes you can, Brittany, that's what you hired him for. He has a job to do if you fucking let him do it!" I cringed again at hearing her say my full name again, I hated hearing it come from her mouth especially when she's as angry as she is now, but I couldn't stop myself from trying to defend myself; even if she is right.

"I do, you know that! I just can't abandon him when it's been so busy like it has." I shot back, "But what about you? Jenna can only do so much. She can't run the business for you, you're literally by yourself. You're the one with stress tests that barely pass. You're the one who is supposed to take it easy and you're not even doing it! You're being so selfish working these kinds of hours when you, making no type of effort to find help; know it's not healthy for you either. Who is supposed to help you when you need it? It's like you don't even care that you could be putting our child in danger!" I watched as her shoulders seemed to slump and I wanted to kick myself for saying such a stupid thing like that. It was a subtle movement that only people who have been trained in the art of Santana could've seen, but I saw it and soon after I watched her stiffen up as she hid behind her protective walls. I shut my eyes tightly while she just looked off to the side as I let out a deep exhale and tried to regain some composure before I say anything even more stupid. "Santana, I didn't-"

"Alright, break it up you two; the whole world can hear you guys bickering." Kurt waltzed in coolly as he closed the door behind him then started shrugging out of his pea coat, "I mean, seriously, sound proof walls, you need to invest in that."

"Kurt?" I asked with my lips pursing as I turned to him, "This really isn't a good time, why are you here?" I sighed as I stared at him in confusion, but he just laughed which confused me even more. I looked back at Santana but she had her back to me and was already going to sit down at her desk.

"He's here because I'm going to get him caught up with how SnixxJuice is running so that he can take over whenever I feel he's ready to, is that alright with you?" She snapped in that passive aggressive way as she slid her reading glasses back on and stared down at her papers on her desk, not even giving me a single look. I glanced back up at Kurt who had sucked in his lips and raised his brows to his hairline at hearing Santana's response. We rarely argue in front of anyone, unless it's playful banter, but when we do it's like the entire world has been turned upside down because it doesn't ever happen! Santana doesn't take that tone with me and if she does, everyone knows something's up.

That didn't keep me from feeling like a jerk though. Here I am about to guilt trip her into thinking that she doesn't care about our child, which was really stupid of me I don't even know why I said that, when she's already making an effort to lessen her work load. I pressed my lips tightly together at San's answer and contemplated whether or not I should start begging for forgiveness now or later, but with Kurt here, I guess later would be better.

"Yeah, San, that's alright.." I sighed when her head shot up at me, her eyes staring back in a pointed glare, clearly waiting for an answer from me now.

"Good." She replied shortly, "Now if you don't have anything else to say about how I run things or how I'm _neglecting_ our child, you can go back to being selfish, I mean, _working_." She was back to staring down at her papers and flipped her hand up and shooed me away, but I couldn't move. I just looked at her then back at Kurt feeling defeated and guilty. Kurt just gave me a weak smile and patted my shoulder as I turned to leave.

"Don't worry about her." He whispered low enough so Santana couldn't hear, "I'll talk to her." I gave a weak nod in response as I reached for the door and closed it behind me before making my way to the other side of the studio where Jeremy and the others were already practicing. Little did Kurt know, I can't _not_ worry about Santana; the whole argument is going to bother me all day and I won't be able to find peace until we make peace. It never feels right fighting with her and not making up right after, it just reminds me of other times, times where we went full days not talking just because we're both stubborn and sometimes what we want to say isn't easy to be converted into words.

And what I didn't know was that I wouldn't get the chance to talk to her again until later that night when I came home from briefly checking in on Heather and Colton. I had been racking my brain the entire day of what the right thing to say would be, but nothing ever came. It's like this argument was a buildup of what we've both been feeling lately ever since New Year's Day when things began picking up and we just let it all out on each other. We were both in the wrong and the situation could've gone so much better if we weren't so stressed about everything.

I slid my key in the lock, balancing my duffle bag strap on my shoulder as I leaned down and stuck the bouquet of yellow daisies I had picked up on my way home between my elbow and hip, and twisted the knob. My heart raced immediately as I heard the low chatter of whatever episode of Jersey Shore was on because that means there would be no other way than to pass the couch and see her there when we haven't said a word to each other for the pass seven hours.

I shook it off though, inhaled deeply, and pulled the flowers out from my arm and gripped the stems tightly as I hesitantly took a step out from the dividing wall only to be met with an empty couch. She had been sitting there though, probably napping judging by how messy the throw blanket is hanging off the edge of the couch and the slight dip in the cushions. I let my eyes carry around the room as I slipped my shoes off and set my bag down by the hallway closet until I heard dishes clanging in the kitchen, and unless we were being robbed of our kitchenware, that's probably where she was.

My palms were sweating so bad that I'm surprised that the bouquet didn't slip right through my fingers, but shook it off again and slowly walked in the direction of where all the sound was coming. I pressed the bundle to my chest, the flowers just resting beneath my chin as I poked my head around the corner to find her standing before the sink scrubbing away at dirty dishes.

The sound of the plastic protecting the flowers caught her attention as she slowly looked over her shoulder at me, and with one look in my direction, she sucked all the air out of my lungs. She didn't smile but she wasn't scowling either, she just looked at me with tired eyes.

"Hi.." I greeted shyly, my voice barely loud enough for her to hear over the rushing water.

"Hey." She replied shortly, but not like her tone from earlier, it was more like she exhaled the word as her eyes flickered from mine to what I was holding then back up to my blues, her eyebrow twitching just the slightest.

"I-uhm-I got these for you." I mumbled and looked down at the flowers in my hands suddenly seeing that quite a few petals were missing and some of the stems were bent causing a couple of daises to slump over. I don't know why, but it made me want to laugh at seeing how beat up these flowers were and I didn't even realize it until now. She didn't say anything though, just looked down at the flowers in my hands as she pressed her lips tightly together, then turned back to shut off the water faucet. Embarrassed, I looked back down at the beat up bouquet in my sweaty hands and sighed, "Well, that's the last time I'm buying flowers at night from some old guy on the street corner, I swear they didn't look like this when I bought them.."

"I love them."

My head shot up at hearing her finally say more than one word in response and I felt my cheeks flushing as she stared at me with such love in her eyes. I missed seeing her look at me like that, I hated when she looked at me with any different. There was still about a foot between us as I rested my shoulder against the fridge and she leaned back against the kitchen counter, hands flattened out on her growing bump. She smiled sweetly, her head tilted to the side as her cheeks bunched and eyes twinkled. I felt the back of my neck heat up and the tips of my ears reddening as I stood under her gaze, seeing her so damn smitten like that I could do nothing but shrug casually.

"They look like I found them in the gutter.." I muttered as I stared down at them again, attempting to push up one of the fallen daises upright, but it slumped over once more.

"They're perfect." She answered again making my attention fall back to her, this time seeing an even wider grin. I couldn't keep myself from smiling too, and in hopes that I wouldn't look like a crazy person, I pulled the bouquet up a little higher and hid behind the petal-less and snapped stemmed bunch of daises in embarrassment.

Then, if I could be any more flustered by her, she giggled. It was the greatest sound ever, a sound I had missed all day, but finally hearing it, it was like everything was right in the world again.

"I'll put them in some water." She said through a breathy laugh as she took a step closer to me causing me to peek over the flowers. Her eyes flickered from my hands to mine as she smiled shyly until I had fully passed over the bouquet. I watched as she carefully took the glass vase from the bottom cabinet and began to fill it with water while she started to tear away the plastic around the flowers. She seemed so at ease by just simply putting flowers in a vase, but I could still see she was slightly tensed and I knew why.

"I'm sorry, Santana.." I said all in one breath, like it was something I had been keeping trapped in my lungs for so long that it all sounded like one word.

"What?" She asked as she glanced over her shoulder to me with her brows scrunched. I shifted under her gaze as my hands started to fiddle.

"I said, I'm sorry." I replied, this time slower. She turned around fully as she crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head at me in the same way from earlier, like she was analyzing me. "I'm sorry I said you didn't care about our little one, I-I don't know why I said that, it wasn't very nice." I muttered at the floor in shame, "I know you love them just as much as I do and you'd never purposely put them in danger, it's just sometimes you worry me. I can't help it, I can't help that I want to trap you in a big bubble at home so you don't have to stress over everything, but I know I can't do that." I looked up at her, gauging how she was taking my apology, if I should keep going or just stop while I'm ahead, but by how she was staring at me with that smirk, I knew I was making good progress. "So I'm just really sorry and I won't ever question you about your motherly skills again." I stared back at her waiting for some type of response but she didn't say anything, just kept on staring until she finally dropped her arms to her sides and sighed.

"I'm sorry too.." She shrugged as she went over to the microwave and pressed the button to make the door pop open. "I shouldn't nag about your work like I do when you're trying to do the best that you can, it doesn't help the stress when I'm there always bugging you about it, but I'm not doing that to just make things difficult. But just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean you have to take the whole world on by yourself, you don't need to do that It's just, I worry about you too and I know when you're stressing out, I can feel it. Really B, you really don't have to work that hard, the both of us could go on a break until the baby comes and we'd still be financially stable." She spun around and held out a plate with a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich set in the center. "We both don't work very well under pressure, and I'm sorry for the way I talked to you earlier." My eyes left the plate in her hands to stare back at deep brown orbs. "You brought your peace offering, here's mine."

"Well.." I sighed dramatically, a smile itching to grace my lips as I stared up at the ceiling, "I guess you can't really not accept an apology when there's a pb&b involved.."

"Nope, I don't think that's allowed." She giggled as I shuffled closer to her.

"Then I guess I'll only accept your apology if you accept mine." I shrugged as she set the plate in my hand and smirked.

"Sounds like a deal."

"Awesome." I cheesed and leaned in to capture her lips in a long overdue welcome home kiss, careful not to drop the plate I still had in one hand as the other landed on her waist. She made the slightest of steps towards me so that I could feel her belly pressing into mine as her hands ran up my spine to press at my shoulder blades and deepened the kiss.

After exchanging a few more kisses in the middle of our kitchen, we ended up on the couch in front of the tv; Santana's thighs laying over top mine as she leaned back against the arm rest, hands resting on her stomach while I devoured the sandwich she made me.

"I'm guessing it tastes good?" She smirks as she ducks her head a little to find my eyes when I took another bite. I turn to her, cheeks bulging with pb&b, and smile while I gave her a nod. "Huh, I still got it then!" She cheered and clapped her hands together lightly before turning back to whatever show was playing now that Jersey Shore was over. It was nice to just sit here like this, I loved when our nights ended with us on the couch just lounging; we needed more of these nights. These calms moments won't be around for long, especially with a baby on the way, these nights need to be cherished. I finished the last bite of my sandwich and leaned over to set the plate down on the coffee table before snuggling back up with Santana.

I tried to focus on the show she was laughing at so much, but my mind kept drifting back to the argument we had earlier. Not that it still bothered me, but I know she's right about me beginning to spread myself thin again and with her already catching Kurt up with SnixxJuice business, I need someone to help me too. Jeremy's great and all, but I've got two studios to worry about now and as much as I love the cause it's fighting for, I find myself questioning whether or not I have enough time to do both without being overworked.

That's when it hit me.

"San, does Noah still owe you a favor?" I blurted out like I needed to speak before I lost my train of thought. She turned to me with a brow quirked, slightly taken aback by how random that was, and nodded skeptically.

"He owes me quite a few favors actually.."

"Ohh.." I hummed as I pressed my lips together in thought.

"Why? What do you have in mind?" She asked, turning her attention to focus completely on me.

"Uhm..well, do you think that maybe we could talk to him about maybe letting Mike help me out with the second studio?" I asked hesitantly, "We've thought together before, like forever ago, so I think it'll be a nice match, but I don't want to force him to do anything he doesn't want to; we can just talk about it to Mike and see if he even wants to help me. I mean, it would just be for a while I guess, until the baby comes, maybe a few months after too? He's really the only other person besides Jeremy that I trust to look after it, you know?"

"That sounds like a great idea, Britt." She replied with a smile, "I'm sure Noah would be fine with it and I doubt Mike wouldn't want to help out considering what's coming up for the both of us. He doesn't seem like that type of guy that wouldn't want to, right? Your studio is only open four days a week, so he could work in the daytime and there's still time for him to practice at ShowTime's during the night."

"Right? That's what I was thinking." I answered happily, "With more hands to help out, I'll be able to come home to you sooner and when things," I set my hands to rest at her tummy, "really start kicking I'll be available to help you do whatever you need to without worrying about either studios because they'll both be in good hands." Santana nodded along with me as she ran her fingers over the backs of my hands.

"Mhm, I definitely like the sound of that." She replied contently, "How about we make a visit tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, okay." I nodded and started to sink back against the couch, Santana wiggling forward just enough so that I could slip in behind her. We focused our attention back on the tv screen, giggling at these comedians talking about the girl version of do's and don'ts of friends with benefits, my arm curling around San's hip to rest my hand at the side of her belly as she leisurely traced patterns at the top of her stomach. The rest of the night was spent lounging just like that; cuddled up on the couch, channels flipping from MTV to The Food Network during commercials, lazily laughing at each other when we'd comment on the craziness of the shows, and Santana making the quietest of gasps when she felt someone swimming around in her tummy, something I've still yet to be able to feel.

_The Next Night;_

Just like we planned the night before, right after work Santana and I made our way over to ShowTime's for our meeting with Noah. Santana said that she had called him on her lunch break earlier in the day to let him know we'd be swinging by for a visit, but for some reason Noah was skeptical and assured her that he didn't owe her any money and he never posted those derpy pictures of her when we went out to lunch that one time and he'd snapped one of her in mid bite. Santana hates derpy pictures, but she just told him that it had nothing to do with any of that and that he should probably delete those pictures if he wants to keep the use of his penis.

Minutes later, Kurt texted her a video of Noah deleting the pictures of her off his phone.

Now Santana, Noah, and I were all seated in his office while he poured San a glass of apple juice. That's been like the drink of the week for San and I was surprised to find out that Noah's favorite non-alcoholic beverage is apple juice and he always keeps a container in the mini fridge in his office; lucky Santana. At first we sat just making small talk, the two owners catching up on how business is going, while I listened intently, trying to keep up with the lingo, until Noah eyed the both of us skeptically and leaned back in his leather chair.

"Alright, spill.." He said and waved his hand at us to talk, "I know you're pregnant already so that can't be it," he chuckled as he crossed his arms and looked between us for an answer, "What's up?"

I looked to San timidly, I don't know where the sudden shyness came from I guess I was just scared things wouldn't go as planned, and nodded a little for her to talk instead. She smiled in response and turned back to Noah with a very businesslike posture.

"We need Mike for awhile."

I watched as Noah's brows raised to his hairline at the request and waited anxiously for what his response would be, hoping that it wasn't anything negative.

"Hell no."

Shit.

"Noah.." San warned as she wiggled to the edge of her seat, closer to Noah, "It's just for a few months-"

"I said no." He cut her off with a clenched jaw. I winced when I saw the switch in Santana flipping from professional negotiator to ruthless taker.

"Look Puckerman," She snapped, eyes narrowing at him.

"San.." I said softly, trying to keep her calm.

"Britt needs help with the other studio and she's only comfortable leaving it in Mike's hands. They've worked together before, they know how each other teaches. You'll still have him for the weekends and nights for practice here, Britt just needs him during the daytime and it's only four days out of the whole week, none of which fall on a weekend, so quit being an ass and let him help."

I watched as the two of them began to bicker like brother and sister, bringing up things that didn't even pertain to the current topic, and as much as I wanted to break up the argument, all I could do was watch. Just as I was about to snatch a rubberband ball out of San's grip, there was a knock at Noah's door and in poked Mike's head.

"Hey guys!" Mike greeted cheerfully as he took a seat between Noah and Santana, "So what are we talking about?"

"She's trying to poach another one of my choreographers from me." Noah huffed childishly. Santana rolled her eyes in response. "You don't even know if he _wants_ to go!"

"Poaching?" I asked slightly confused, "Like an egg?" Santana stifled a giggle but glared back at Noah.

"They're not animals you dumbass, and I'm not _poaching_ him. He'll still work for you, he'll just be helping Britt out too!"

Then the bickering started up again, this time I wasn't alone in watching the two fight like brother and sister. Mike and I just watched as random things from the past, as far back as when the two were roommates in college, were brought up. It wasn't until Mike held up his hand that the argument stopped.

"I'm actually fine with helping Britt out." He shrugged casually, "I only work here during the weekend and from what Britt has mentioned about this studio before, I'd only be there for three hours a day. I'm fine with doing both, it's no trouble to me." Santana shot Noah a triumphant smirk followed by her sticking her tongue out at him while Noah just shuffled back in his chair and looked from Mike to me.

"Well..I _was_ going to let him do it." Noah sighed then shot Santana a smirk, "I just wanted to see if you still can get suckered into an argument. I think it's even easier now that you're all hormonal and shit."

"You're such an ass." San grumbled but couldn't fight the grin that tugged at the corners of her mouth. Noah just laughed while Mike and I looked at the two with confused looks on our faces; how could two people who were ready to bite each other's heads off a minute ago now be laughing along together like nothing happened. "So it's settled then?"

"If by settled you mean that you're agreeing to name your kid after me, then yeah, it's settled."

"Not a chance in hell." Santana laughed while shaking her head, "No."

"Plus we don't even know if they're a girl or a boy yet." I added when Noah's face fell.

"And even if we _did_ know, we're not naming him or her after a piece of hockey equipment."

"I was more going for Noah, but-"

"It's not happening." Santana repeated.

"Plus, if they were named Noah, they might be pressured to live up to their name thinking that they'd have to build a wooden boat and gather all these animals and what if they don't know how to do that? I couldn't help them and I don't think San could either since we both don't know how to build an arc. Or what if they can't find all the animals? The pressure could be too much and they could get depressed, and I just can't have a depressed son or daughter on my conscience.." I ranted while everyone in the room just stared at me intently. San placed her hand gently on my knee and ran her thumb up and down as she turned back to Noah who looked a little shocked.

"So that would be no, two against one, for Noah. Sorry not sorry."

A few minutes later Noah and Mike came up with a new work schedule that would fit Mike into my schedule while San sat off to the side and watched proudly as I worked everything out.

_End of January;_

In hopes that having Mike on the team now would lessen my work load are completely shot when word gets back to me that Mercedes has been chosen to be one of the Grammy performers. Not only does that mean I have to create a routine for her to perform, but since it's the Grammys and Santana is representing SnixxJuice, this thing has to be amazing so I'm putting everything I've got into this. Not that winning or losing the award is riding on how awesome the performance will be, but if it doesn't meet the audience's expectations what does that say about me? What does that say about Santana? And what does that say about SnixxJuice? No pressure, right?

I was on my way to San's office to head out to lunch together when I heard her and Kurt talking.

"We're the best, we can't have anyone apart of our label that isn't anything but perfect." I poked my head in through the crack of the door and saw Santana pacing the floor while Kurt leaned against the bookshelf smirking. "Perfect, okay?" She said again, turning to point her finger in his direction.

"That sounds an awful lot like something Rachel would say..I'd know, I spend more time with her than any normal person should."

"Who do you think she got it from?" She smirked as I walked in and caught their attention, "Hey B." She greeted as I waltzed up and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before going over to hug Kurt.

"Hi! What are you guys talking about?" I asked as I sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs in front of San's desk.

"Just catching Kurt up on how I like things to be run while I'm away." She shrugged and turned to glare back at him, "Also, don't sign none of those young ratchet ass hoes, no matter how much you like the height of their heels or the color of their nails, I don't want to have that kind of publicity here, we've got enough of that already." Kurt nodded frantically while I just giggled at San's word choice.

"Sounds like fun." I chirped then turned to San, "You ready for lunch?"

"Uh, I actually already ate." She replied making my smile falter.

"Ohh.." I slumped, "Well, that's okay. Maybe I can meet up with Jeremy and the others, I think they all went together to get pizza." I added cheerfully and started to stand from the chair, "What did you have?" I spun around to see Kurt and her having some sort of silent conversation with their eyes until they both caught me staring.

"A sandwich." She shrugged casually.

"And?"

"Some chips?"

"And?"

"Uh..some water?"

"And?"

"That's all?" She replied questioningly.

"That's all?" I gasped, "Babe, you know you're supposed to be eating for two right? A sandwich and chips? That's not nearly enou-"

"Brittany, let's not do this again." I cringed at hearing my full name fall from her lips with such a tone of annoyance.

"I'm not gunna let you eat barely anything, San, especially when I know you forgot to take your vitamins this morning."

"I'll eat again once we finish up the last of this paperwork, I just wasn't that hungry earlier. And I didn't forget, I just didn't take them at the usual time I do." She huffed and rushed over to her purse and pulled out the extra container I made her carry around just in case she _did_ forget. "I was in a hurry this morning and I might've forgotten to take the ones you left out for me, but I took these ones instead." She wiggled the container in her hands. "I know what I'm doing."

"I never said you didn't, I was just making sur-"

"I'm not a child, Britt, can you quit treating me like one?" She snapped at me making Kurt's head whip to her.

"Santana, that's not what she's trying to do." Kurt sighed but Santana just huffed while I stood there feeling hurt yet again. I really wasn't trying to baby her, she's a grown woman, but I know how she gets when she's in the moment and sometimes she forgets about things.

"Well sorry for caring about my wife who is 23 weeks pregnant." I grumbled and made my way for the door, "I'm going to the studio to get Mike acquainted with things after lunch, I'll see you at home."

"Britt, wait, don't go." She sighed and went to go after me but I was already out the door. She wants to make it seem like I'm such a pain in her ass, actually caring and watching out for her? Fine then, I'll give her some room to breathe since she makes it seem like I'm smothering her. Fine.

_Later that afternoon;_

"You alright there, Britt?" Jeremy asked after I had dismissed everyone for the day. I had been slumped in my chair with a wet towel draped over my face for the past 10 minutes while everyone collected their stuff and went home.

"Yeah, I'm alright." I sighed as I leaned forward and pulled the cool rag from my face and tossed it on the table. He fiddled with the top of his water bottle and nodded before taking a swig.

"You and Santana okay?" He asked lightly and crouched down to my eye level. I just shrugged.

"We always argue about the same thing but I can't help worrying about her, you know?" I rambled, "I feel helpless when it comes to comforting her because I can't feel what she's feeling, and I really try my best, but it's like she takes that as me trying to baby her. That's not my intention, I'm just trying to take care of her."

"Yeah, I understand." Jeremy nodded and rose to his feet before patting my shoulder, "I know you guys have been together for a long time, but I think she's so used to caring for herself that when you try to do it for her she gets a little spooked. Maybe she's not used to someone else trying to take care of her like you've been trying to do?" He shrugged and dropped his hand from my shoulder to scoop up his duffle bag and scratched a little at his scalp and shrugged, "I don't know, that's just a thought. I could be completely wrong, you know her better than I do."

What he said made sense though. There's probably been one time where I've had to actually take care of Santana, one of the rare times she's gotten sick, and even then she was so stubborn to accept the help. Well, she pretty much refused it until I physically made her stay home from work and lay in bed all day until she felt well enough. Maybe Jeremy is right?

"I'll see you later, Britt!" He waved and headed for the door leaving me to sit and marinate in my thoughts for a few more minutes before locking up and heading to the studio to meet Mike. Usually I'd swing by Santana's office before leaving but this time I didn't feel like being yelled at for caring. I know she's upset with herself for talking to me the way she did just by how she tried running after me earlier, but she can wait till I get home to apologize.

_An Hour Later;_

"Heather, Colton, this is Mike." I said as I introduced the three to each other. Heather and Colton both waved at Mike awkwardly, "Mike, this is Heather and Colton." Mike teased them by copying their awkward waves which seemed to lighten up the mood. "He's going to be taking over for me for a bit while Santana's pregnant and maybe a few months after the baby is born too, just so I've got some extra time on my hands just in case Santana needs me which she probably will." Mike stood next to me, nodding along with what I was saying while Heather and Colton did the same. "He's an awesome teacher, we both taught together at the same studio back in the day so you two won't have any trouble falling into the way he teaches since our techniques are pretty similar."

"Yeah, and I don't have a problem with critique either so if I'm doing something that you guys don't really like or aren't catching on to, feel free to tell me and I'll try to fix that so we're all on the same page." Mike added with a bright smile.

"Awesome." Colton nodded happily.

"So does that mean you won't be coming in anymore?" Heather asked timidly.

"Oh no, I'll still stop by, just not as often as I used to." I replied shaking my head, "For now it won't be any different, just Mike and I will _both_ be here until I catch him up with the way things work, but after that my visits will probably drop down to once a week."

"Ohh.." Heather drawled out, trying to keep from frowning. "That's cool, I guess."

"Yeah, I mean, it's only for awhile but I'm not gunna forget about you guys." I replied cheerfully, "This is only temp-"

I was cut off by the sound of my phone buzzing against the lobby counter.

"Oh, one sec." I huffed and skipped over to my phone, scrunching my brows at seeing the name lighting up the screen. Wanting to end my confusion as to why she was calling me, I slid the bar to answer and raised the phone to my ear. "Jenna?"

"Brittany, hi." She gasped like she was out of breath. I looked over to Mike, Colton, and Heather who were all watching me with bewildered looks on their faces. I just shrugged and focused on the phone call.

"Hey? What's-"

"Now I don't want you to panic but-"

Someone should really let this girl know that the fastest way to give someone a panic attack is by telling them not to panic.

"What? What's is it? What's wrong?" I rambled, anxiously awaiting for her to say that Santana was having another emotional breakdown because her stapler broke or her pen ran out of ink, but the amount of time it took Jenna to answer me really bothered me. I felt my palms start to heat up as I felt like all the blood in my body was rushing to my head causing my limbs to seem numb. Though it was probably only seconds that passed, I couldn't take it! I needed answers, and I needed them right now or else I'd-

"Santana passed out, she's in the hospital now."


	2. Chapter 2

I tried to focus my attention on all the things Jenna was telling me; trying to remember every detail, every valuable piece of information, everything, but I just couldn't concentrate. It felt so hard to breath all of a sudden and it seemed as if my heart refused to pump the blood through my veins and my limbs were actually stiffening the longer I tried to focus. I was hearing what she was saying but I wasn't listening, wasn't comprehending; I couldn't. It was like my brain was scratching out everything that didn't have Santana's name attached, but as Jenna went on to tell me which hospital Santana was taken to my body finally snapped into action.

I didn't realize I was turning on my heels ready to make a break for the door when I heard Mike call to me, "I can drive you." He must've caught on that something was terribly wrong; they all must've caught on by the way they were all staring at me. I didn't stop though; I needed to get to Santana _right now_.

So I ran right past him. I ran like my life depended on it; like _her_ life depended on it. I ran like I wasn't just about to drop dead from being so worn out only 30 minutes before. My calves burned, my shins stung, my breath came out in short huffs against the bitter January air as I bolted down the city street ducking and dodging pedestrians that scattered the sidewalks.

I tried my hardest to keep my thoughts from creeping into the darker side of things, but I just couldn't help the string of what if's that forced their way in. It's like all the fears of not being able to protect her all came crashing down on me, like a hand wrapping around my neck, strangling me with my own fears, until I was desperately gasping for air.

I ran even faster; maybe I can escape those thoughts if I can just run faster.

My eyes scanned the street signs of each new block I ran by as I basically sprinted across town, but I wasn't even halfway there yet. It was then when I thought that maybe I should've taken Mike up on his offer of driving.

Then I remembered I was running for Santana, _to_ Santana, and no car could get me to her faster than if I just ran. I felt the soles of my feet numbing up as each crash against the concrete sent a new shock wave through my legs straight to my gut, tackling the uneasy feeling I developed there ever since Jenna's call. Sweat was beginning to collect along my brows and down at the small of my back, colliding with the chill of the air making my head pound. I hurt like hell, but I'd go through it a hundred times just to get to her.

I hated that the last time we saw each other we were arguing again. It made me so sick thinking that my last words to her weren't _I love you._ I choked back the lump forming in my throat and focused on running as fast as I could.

God, what if she hit her head when she passed out? What if she's unconscious? What if she doesn't remember who I am? What if she doesn't wake up? What if the baby got hurt? What if we los-

I shook my head furiously at the last thought, refusing to let myself think something like that, and pushed myself harder than ever as I neared the parking lot. Seeing the bright lights of the hospital was sort of like a last energy boost for me, giving me enough power to dash through the parked cars right to the service desk.

Strands of blonde hair clung to my cheeks as I hunched over and tried to catch my breath, my hands griping my knees trying to hold myself up while the rest of my body buzzed with the adrenaline of running nearly 15 blocks to get here.

"Miss?" Someone asked hesitantly, "Are you alright?" I looked up through my out grown bangs to see a middle aged woman leaning over the top of the counter giving me a worried stare. I was still breathing heavily when I shook my head at her and straightened up; _Santana, I need to see Santana._

I approached the desk slowly, my body already beginning to ache from the exertion, and tried my best to muster up enough control to even out my breathing.

"Santana Pierce-Lopez," I panted unevenly as I leaned against the high counter, "Where is she?" The woman eyed me skeptically, her forehead creasing, as she shuffled back a couple steps.

"Your name?" She asked but I just quirked my brow at her wondering if she was serious or not. She continued to stare at me, clearly waiting for an answer, so I nodded.

"It's Brittany." I replied, my voice less ragged, "Brittany Pierce-Lopez." She looked at me again with the same unmoved stare from before as she quirked her brow like she didn't believe me.

"Do you have some sort of identification?" She asked, "Because of who she is, we need to make sure you are who you say you are." I nodded, confused as to why this woman needed proof. She must have seen Santana and I in the magazines, in the news, everywhere, she has to know who I am from just looking at me!

But I complied, wanting to just speed the process up. I should really be grateful that they're taking such precautions.

I stuck my hand instinctively in my back pocket for my phone where I usually stick my credit card and ID in the case only to be met with the material of my jeans. My eyes widened at the emptiness as I started to feel around my other back pocket, my front pockets, the pocket of my hoodie, all to be met with nothing. I must've forgotten my phone in my mad dash out of the studio.

"I-uhh-I seemed to have left it behind." I mumbled after searching my pockets for the third time. I looked up to the woman to see her staring back at me, unmoved yet again.

"No ID, I can't let you in. Sorry."

"Ma'am, please, that's my wife. She's pregnant." I pleaded, "You have to recognize me, you have to!"

"I need to see an ID." She repeated, emotionless and unwavering, "No ID, no room number."

Then something in me snapped; my fingers curled into tight fists, my jaw clenched, my eyes narrowed, and nostrils flared. I saw red and at that moment, I thought about physically causing this woman harm. It was only a brief thought, but still, she was keeping me from seeing my wife whose condition I have no idea is in, I'd do anything to get to her. I was furious.

"No, you don't _understand_." I growled, my voice dropping an octave lower than usual, "That is my _wife_ in there and I need to see her right damn now! I need to see her, I need to make sure she's okay, I need to know the baby's okay, I _need_ to." I felt my heart beginning to race again as this familiar lump crept up my throat making it hard for me to swallow. I tried to keep calm like always, but I was at my lasts with this woman! "I made a promise that I'd be there for her whenever she needed me and I wasn't there, but I'm here now. She needs me right now and you're not letting me get to her. Do you realize that? You're keeping me from my wife when she needs me the most! Just please, please let me in." When she made no effort to move, I dug a little deeper into the little Lima Heights I've picked up from living with Santana for all this time.

I took a step closer to the desk, set both my hands flat against the counter and leaned in so that I was towering over the woman, then glared.

"Give me the fucking room number right now." I snapped, "Call her, tell her I'm here and she'll let me in! Please, you have to!"

"If you don't calm down I'll have security escort you out." She replied calmly.

"Security?!" I yelled in disgust, "Are you fucking kidding me? You are throwing a patient's wife out! Do you realize how ridiculous you're being by not letting me in? I am everywhere she is, you know me, everyone knows me, I can't get away, I can't go anywhere without someone recognizing me!" I ranted earning stares from the others occupying the lobby. I looked around at all the people staring, noting their frightened expressions and how they seemed to huddle together. I hated them seeing me like that, I don't act like this, I'm not someone who yells. But right now, I'll do whatever I have to get to Santana, even if that means yelling. I turned back to the woman and snarled, "You _will_ give me the room number. If something else goes wrong and I'm not there for her, I'll-"

"Security."

And just like that two arms hooked around mine and began pulling me towards the doors. I kicked and yelled for them to put me down but they were strong and didn't even waver. Tears pricked at my eyes at the mere thought of me being so close to Santana yet so freaking far and I'm basically here for her but not here for her at the same time. It was killing me! I wasn't there when it happened and I can't be there for her now and she needs to know I'm here for her, she needs to see it. She needs to see that she comes first, always, not work, but she can't see that if I'm being thrown out.

"Wait, please, I know who she is. I have consent from her wife, I can vouch for her. I'll show you wedding pictures, anything! Please, let her go!" I stopped putting up a fight long enough for the men to set me back down on the ground as they turned me towards the familiar voice. "Here! This is a copy of her birth certificate. Will that do? I have copies of the both of them. Here's a picture from their wedding, here's another, here's one from SnixxJuice, here's one from the Grammys last year, here's-"

I watched as Jenna, flustered as ever, threw documents from the journal she always carries around when she's with Santana down at the counter in front of the receptionist not really caring why she carries all those things with her. I've never seen her so worked up, so upset at someone who wasn't her jerk of a boyfriend. She was so frazzled as she continued to toss papers and pictures down at the desk until the woman held up her hand and nodded pleadingly. I was too far away to hear now that Jenna had stopped shouting, but I continued to watch as the woman helped her gather all the papers she threw down back into a neat pile and slipped them into the confines of her journal.

"Let her go." The woman called to the men set at either side of me. In seconds, their arms slipped from around mine and they disappeared. My shoulders slumped at the feeling until Jenna hurried to me and set her hands on my shoulders, shaking me a little like she was wanting me to focus on her. She didn't say anything, just stared in my eyes searching for something, then nodded and grabbed onto my wrist and headed for the hall.

"I'm sorry they weren't going to let you in. That wasn't right." She muttered as she led me down the hall, the white lights against the white walls and tile blinding me as we passed door after door. "They should've believed you."

"Thank you for coming to get me anyway." I sighed, my body refusing to calm down until I've seen Santana. My eyes frantically searched the door numbers hoping that the next one would be hers, only to pass it and have the process repeat.

"She's fine, Brittany, really." Jenna replied softly after a long pause when she looked over her shoulder to check that I was still focusing. I nodded to her, but I couldn't really believe her until I've seen it for myself. We walked pass six more rooms when she finally slowed her walk and gestured for the door. "This is her."

"Okay." I whispered as I looked to the closed door.

"I'll wait outside."

"Okay." I said again and watched as she took a seat on the bench just outside the door. I licked my lips and nodded before reaching for the handle. Slowly I twisted it, wanting nothing more to see Santana perfectly fine but also afraid that there was a possibility that she wasn't fine, that she was hurt and bruised up.

I felt the tears pricking at my eyes again but I blinked them away yet again and sucked in a breath before pushing open the door. I poked my head through the opening to see Kurt sipping on a cup of coffee and a magazine laid out on his lap as he leaned back against the chair turned towards Santana's bed. He looked up instantly when I pushed the door open wider so I can slip through.

"Brittany." A heavenly voice sighed as I entered the room, now able to see more than just Kurt. Santana was resting back against a stack of fluffy pillows as her hands clutched her tummy. She looked completely fine, not cuts, no bruises, no bandages, nothing out of the ordinary graced her perfect body other than the hospital gown she was now sporting.

I don't know how she does it, but with one little word she manages to suck all the air out from my lungs. Kurt looked to me then to Santana and slowly stood up, patting my shoulder as he passed me to leave us the room to ourselves.

I tried to move closer to her but it was like my feet were stuck to the floor and my legs refused to move. I was rooted to my spot and all I did was stare back at her, watching the way she tilted her head to the side, her brows scrunching in the pained expression scrawled across her face.

The what if's circled my head again, that same imaginary fist tightening its hold around my neck until I couldn't stand it. I stared at her, my bottom lip quivering, as my vision began to blur.

"Oh, baby come here." She choked out and let her hand fall from her stomach to pat at the space beside her. Before I knew it, I was wiggling in beside her on the small hospital bed, crumbling against her as my arms wrapped around her and hers around me. I pressed my ear against her chest listening to the steady beat of her heart as she kissed the top of my head and ran her hands up and down my back soothingly as my body shook against her.

"S-San.." I whimpered as I buried my face into her neck, "I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't there, I'm supposed to be there, a-a-and I-"

"Hey..shh, I'm okay. The baby's okay. You're okay." She whispered into my ear and started to slowly rock me when her arms tightened around my shoulders, her warmth fighting against the chill of what could've happened. "We're all okay." I nodded against her, rubbing my cheek against her collar bone, my nose nudging at the soft skin of her neck. She repeated her words over and over like some sort of mantra as she held me close to her and pressed more kisses into my nest of blonde.

"I was so scared.." I mumbled after a few minutes of silence now that my tears have stopped falling. I tried evening out my breathing for the millionth time today as her fingers traced small circles around my shoulder blades. "I was so scared, San, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know and that's what scared me. I didn't know if seeing you earlier today was going to be the last time I ever saw you. I didn't know if what we said to each other was going to be the last conversation we'd ever have. I just didn't know what happened, I don't know what happened, and it scared me."

"I know, baby, I know." She replied softly then cupped my chin and tilted it up so our eyes could meet. She looked so deeply into my eyes that I felt like she was trying to absorb all my fears if only for a moment. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you away like that, you were just trying to help. You're always trying to help and I just keep being a stubborn dumbass. I'm sorry. You don't have to be scared, B, I'll be better. I'll do better, promise." She added and let her lips press firmly into mine as if she wanted to convey all her love in just one kiss. She was quiet for another moment and I knew she was in her head again just by how distant she looked; we were both in our heads a lot lately. I rolled over to my side and cupped her cheek, using my thumb to brush the skin of her cheekbone before leaning in to kiss her worries away. "I was so afraid, B." She mumbled against my lips as tears ran down her cheeks.

"What happened?" I asked lowly as I wiped away a tear.

"I-I was just finishing up the paperwork with Kurt so we were going to head out to the diner down the block because I was really wanting some pecan pie then I was going to swing by the studio to bring you a slice too, I know you love pecan pie, but then everything just turned foggy. I remember feeling really light headed but when I called out for Kurt, nothing came out, and I-I just-I fell." I held her closer, one arm curled around her shoulders while my free hand palmed her belly. "I felt so weak and I couldn't stop it before I knew it was already happening. I-I blacked out." She mumbled into my neck. "I-If Kurt wasn't there to catch me, I-I don't know what would've happened, B. I don't want to know what would've happened."

"And you won't have to because it won't happen again." I whispered, rubbing soft patterns at her stomach, "We'll look out for each other. You're going to let me take care of you now, okay? This won't happen again, I won't let it..I'll take care of you."

"I'm so sorry, Britt." She whimpered and buried her face into the crook of my neck, her tears making my skin slippery.

"I know, honey, shh.." I hummed and started to kiss her forehead, "I know, it's okay now." When she pulled away, only far enough to look me in the eyes again, her lips parted to speak again, but soon there was a light knock at the door and in popped in an elderly man with a little scruff coating his cheeks and chin. He smiled politely at us as he closed the door behind him.

"You must be Brittany." He greeted and held out a hand for me to shake as I pulled away from Santana and took a seat on the chair Kurt was occupying earlier. "I'm Dr. Reese Trevino."

"Yes, hi." I replied and shook his hand, "Nice to meet you." He smiled again and flipped through some papers on a clipboard he walked in with.

"How are you feeling, Santana?" He asked as the adjusted the stethoscope around his neck.

"Much better, thank you." She answered timidly.

"That's great. I just looked over your results, you've got a bit of an iron deficiency, it's nothing to stress over so don't worry; I'm having the nurse bring the prescription later." He went on to listen to the baby's heartbeat, humming at whatever he heard in response. I was still confused as to what exactly happened in the first place, I know she blacked out but why? I had so many questions, but before I could unleash them, Dr. Trevino was turning back to me.

"I can see you're still shaken up about all of this, and I can only imagine what must've been going through your head on the way here, but I can assure you, she is alright. Both her and the child are going to be just fine." He said to me behind a toothy grin that seemed to ease my shoulders down a bit. "She just had really low blood sugar levels which can be prevented by having small snacks throughout the day, it doesn't always have to be something sweet, but it'll help rather than having big meals. It's a common thing so I don't want you to worry too much about it." Once I heard the word _common_ I felt slightly more at ease; common is good, common is okay. I remember Quinn having dizzy spells when she was pregnant with Bella so he's right, he wasn't sugar coating it by saying common, this stuff happens. Santana was okay, that's what he said, and so is the baby. There's nothing for me to- "But, there are some things that will need to change in order to keep this child healthy."

My heart plummeted to my stomach at hearing him and by the look on Santana's face, they way she slowly pursed her lips and how her eyes drifted from mine; I could tell she's already heard his speech.

"Okay." I nodded for him to continue.

"Stress levels are important things when it comes to pregnancy, you both know that, I'm sure Dr. Meyer has gone over that with you, but this up and down thing you two have going, one week you're stressed then next day you're not and so on, is not healthy what so ever. A couple days off isn't enough. Santana needs to have a steady routine, one that isn't so hectic, and I completely understand how things can get considering her occupation, but a decision needs to be made because at the rate she's going and how early she is in her pregnancy, only 23 weeks, she could very well miscarriage."

It was like a tub of ice cold water was dumped on me, waking me from a somewhat blissful state when the last word left his mouth. I wanted to yell at him for saying something so frightening like that. I wanted to tell him how insensitive it was considering what just happened and how scared we were already. I wanted to tell him to shut up because that could never happen, not to us.

But mostly, I wanted to cry because it really _could_ happen. We could lose everything if we weren't careful and that's all he was saying. He was warning us, that's all this is, a warning.

Santana's hand found her way into mine just as I was reaching out for hers while Dr. Trevino went on with his warning.

"I'm not trying to scare you with that, but it is fact. Pregnant women who experience high levels of stress throughout their pregnancy also have an 80% increase in stillbirth. I know how hard you two must've worked to have this happen so I don't want you both to fail. I know you both don't want to fail either." He stared back at the both of us, switching his focus from me to Santana, "You _need_ to change things right now. Work less hours, don't work at all, do whatever you need to do to ensure that your stress levels stay low, Santana. Consider this a wakeup call, okay? If you don't change things right now, there's a high possibility of losing the baby." Santana and I both nodded vigorously. "I don't want to see you back here again unless it's time to properly meet that baby of yours, got it?"

"Yes, doctor." We both answered obediently. He smiled charmingly at that and moved from the stool he had been perched on.

"Great." He nodded and headed for the door, "I'll have the nurse drop by with your new prescription and you'll be ready to go. It was nice meeting you both, have a good night." We said our thank you's and watched the door close securely behind him leaving us to mull over everything he just told us.

"Go ahead, say _I told you so_." She muttered shamefully beneath her breath as she stared down at her hands. I just sighed and pulled her close to me, shaking my head at how she'd even think I'd do that at a time like this. I held her tight and kissed her hair telling her that I love her and that's all that matters right now.

"I should go thank Kurt." I muttered mindlessly as we both sat letting the doctor's words swirl around in our heads. I nodded, keeping my eyes steady on Santana's tummy, while her hands still encompassed mine. "I should do that."

"Later." She mumbled and wiggled back against her pillows, "Stay with me." Her voice came out so soft, almost like a whisper, and when I looked up from her stomach I saw how pained she looked. Her eyes were tightly shut and her brows scrunched as she gnawed on her bottom lip. "Stay, please."

"Of course." I answered and leaned over her to press a kiss to her belly then another on her forehead, watching as the creases slowly vanished, then another to her lips. "I'll be right here." I whispered as I sat at the edge of the hospital bed and let her curl her arms around my waist while she buried her head into my side. I ran my fingers through her long dark hair, scratching at her scalp a little, before running my fingers fully through again until it seemed that the panic arising disappeared.

Moments later, the nurse came in and handed me Santana's prescription and said we were free to go. We weren't quick to get moving though just yet so we stayed content in each other's embraces.

"I love you, Britt." She said softly breaking the silence in the room. She tilted her head up to look at me then pressed her lips into mine. "I love you."

"I love you too, San." I replied just an inch away from her lips. We stayed quiet a few minutes more, our bodies recovering from all the shock and worry caused earlier.

"Britt?" She asked, her voice coming out more confident and clear unlike how she's sounded this who time, scared.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Does this mean I'm back on lock down?" I quirked my brow at the question then glanced down to see her staring up at me with a glint of playfulness in here deep brown eyes while a smirk played at her lips. I let out a chuckle and returned the smirk.

"Oh, you have no idea." I drawled out dramatically, "I'm getting you that human sized bubble asap!" For the first time since I got there, a genuine smile cracked her hardened features and a little giggle escaped her lips. I didn't realize how much I missed that sound until I'd gone so long without it. "Where are you clothes?" I asked after we'd settled down, "You should get changed, I'm not sure how I'd feel if the whole hospital got to see your nakedness..that's a free show."

"Nakedness, huh?" She smirked as she lifted her head from my side and sat up to caress my jaw. "No free shows here, Jenna's got them." I nodded but just as I was going to call for Kurt and Jenna to come in, they were already knocking at the door. The mood lightened considerably as Kurt walked in first and took in how eased Santana was now and took that as a good indication that he could fully express his feelings on what has happened over the past hour and a half while Jenna just passed me Santana's clothes from earlier.

"I swear to Versace, Santana Pierce-Lopez, if you ever scare me like that again..I'll give you something to faint over!" He chastised as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Santana who I was now helping out of bed so she could get changed.

"Kurt." I warned as I directed San to the bathroom, but Santana just laughed.

"I hope that threat doesn't entail seeing you bare ass naked, Hummel, because I think I might just die instead of only fainting..I don't think you want that on your conscience." She quipped then closed the door behind her, sending me a wink just before she shut it. I shook my head, trying to keep from laughing myself, and spun around to see Kurt shaking his head at the ground too.

"That woman, I swear.." He half laughed half sighed.

"I know what you mean." I replied breathlessly then walked over to wrap my arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. "Thank you, Kurt, thank you for being there. Thank you for catching her.." I mumbled against the material of his blazer until his hands pressed into my back.

"It was nothing, Britt, I'm just glad I got to her in time." He replied softly and swayed me side to side, "She's going to do better now. We talked, she doesn't want this to happen again, she doesn't want to scare you like this ever again. I'll be taking over as soon as possible."

"Thank you." I mumbled one last time before pulling away and giving him a beaming grin just as the bathroom door clicked open and San emerged in her normal clothes.

"Let's get out of here, this place gives me the creeps." She joked as she walked to me and entwined our hands. "Plus hospital food kind of sucks..they don't have my stix here."

"Okay, we can swing by Breadstix if you want." I nodded behind a smirk then looked up to Kurt and Jenna, "You guys want to grab dinner with us?"

_February;_

It's been two weeks since Santana's black out incident and I can honestly say things have changed drastically. It's a good thing though, a very good thing! She has cut her 40 hour work week down to 20, if even, and when she does come in, Kurt is very strict on what she's _allowed_ to do. Sometimes Santana gets really pissed off at him for putting her on so many restrictions, but we all know it's for her own good, I think she just secretly likes giving him a hard time. It's like San's way of showing you she cares about you, which sort of explains the connection between how she treats her employees and why they're paid so well.

Things have been going great for me too! With Jeremy and Mike's help, I get home much earlier than I used to which is definitely a big weight off my shoulders. I'm not so stressed anymore and neither is Santana. We've got more time to be lazy at home or hang out with Quinn or pick Bella up from school or skype with Bryce; it's nice.

The routine for Mercedes' Grammy performance is coming along perfectly and I know it's just going to wow the crowd, I'm almost buzzing with excitement. It's easily made it to the top 5 routines I loved. San's actually had to keep me from recording it and uploading a preview to Youtube; she's into surprises, I should know.

"Hey B." San chirped as she waltzed in the studio door while I stood in front of the dancers and Mercedes watching their every move like a hawk. I looked over my shoulder at her and smiled.

"Hi San." I greeted as she walked up beside me and joined me in watching the dancers.

"They're looking good." She complimented with a nod and a grin.

"You think so?" I asked, my eyes not leaving the dancers' movements.

"Mhm!" She hummed cutely then sank into my side a little, "You're looking better.." I let out a choked laugh at that and smiled down at her bashfully, the flush on my cheeks becoming visible when she winked back.

"Keep it in your pants, I only have 15 more minutes here." I whispered when that playful glint in her eyes started to turn dark.

"Fine.." She sighed and looked back out at the dancers as Jeremy walked pass, he'd been circling the group making sure he could catch any mistakes in the back where I couldn't see.

"Hey Santana!" He waved as he walked by.

"Hey." She waved back then turned to me, "I saw him and Jenna having lunch yesterday, I give it 2 weeks and our assistants will be official."

"San..they _always_ have lunch together," I snickered.

"Exactly." She answered, "2 weeks, Britt, I give it 2 weeks." I just shook my head at her crazy matchmaker talk trying to keep from giggling.

"Okay, babe, whatever you say." I teased and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before focusing back on the crowd just as the music stopped.

"Damn, we're gunna kill it!" Mercedes cheered getting claps and hoots from the others in the room. I smiled proudly at them all, the familiar buzz of excitement filling my body and the need to record coming back fully fledged.

"Don't even." Santana warned when I took one tiny little baby step towards my desk. I looked back to see her narrowing her eyes on me as the corner of her mouth quirked up into a half smirk. "Let it be a surprise, Britt." I let my shoulders slump and nodded in agreement, letting the hand she had wrapped around my wrist tug me back to her.

"Speaking of surprises.." I cheesed after a couple minutes of just watching everyone joking and laughing together. Santana turned to me with her brows raised. "Did you-"

"Find your surprise you left me?" She finished with a beaming smile causing me to giggle and nod back. "Hm, which surprise are you referring to exactly?" She hummed then tapped at her chin with her index finger. "The KitKat bar I stowed away in my coat pocket, the container of apple slices and barbeque sauce I found in my briefcase, the Almond Joy I caught hiding in my desk drawer, or the two oatmeal raisin cookies I found chillin on the stack of papers I needed to read through just a few minutes before I walked over here?"

I just laughed as she listed all the things I had left for her or had Jenna bring her throughout the day. I was determined that Santana would never end up in the hospital again due to low blood sugar, not while I'm here. I looked down at her smiling lovingly up at me.

"If that's what you're referring to, then yes, yes I found them." She replied innocently, "And I ate all of it, every single one, it was fucking delicious." That just made me laugh even harder, so hard that I gained the attention of a few of the dancers and Mercedes. I waved back at them, gesturing that my wife was just being her natural comedic self, and they turned back to whatever they were talking about. "Thank you." She said softly and rolled up to the tips of her toes to lay a quick peck to my cheek.

"You're welcome." I grinned bashfully.

"So Grammys are next week," She acknowledged after a short pause, "You ready?" I looked out at everyone, remembering how things have progressed over the short weeks, and smiled proudly.

"Totally." I nodded and looked down at her, "You?" She titled her head up at me, those brown eyes of hers catching the light just right making them sparkle, while she hooked her arm through mine then rested her head on my shoulder.

"Definitely."


	3. Chapter 3

_One Week Later;_

We actually weren't as ready as we thought we were.

The day started out as any other day; I woke up to an extra horny wife who in turn started working herself up by straddling me, totally forgetting that she gets motion sick really easily now, so when she started grinding down on me and I was _just_ getting into it, she rolled off and bolted to the bathroom leaving me high and dry, or wet rather, yet again.

Then when I followed her into the bathroom to check on her, she was a hot crying mess. She was hunched over the toilet sobbing when she blindedly reached back, probably for my shirt to tug me down by, when she accidently went for my crotch, and since I was still _extremely_ sensitive, I nearly fell over on her from the touch. She was too busy throwing up dinner from last night to notice though, thank God!

After crying for 30 minutes over waking me up an hour early just for sexy times only to _ruin it by being a pregnant tease_ , her words, I pulled her to back to bed so that we could sleep for a little bit longer.

Instead of spending those last 30 minutes sleeping, it ended up turning into a cuddled session, which turned into a make out session, which turned into sexy times. I wasn't complaining though, heading to the Grammys being extra sexually frustrated was not something anyone wanted; it's either Santana would miss hearing her name announced for being nominated because we would've found some broom closet to relieve ourselves or there'd be an unhealthy amount of teasing taking place beneath our table which would lead us back to the broom closet; either way, we were going to be making great use of said broom closet.

After three rounds and a very short cuddle session, we both got up to shower the sex off and get the house somewhat clean before our guests showed up.

Then just when we thought that we were getting back into a routine, all hell broke loose.

"You fuckers better be here within the next six minutes!" Santana yelled into the receiver of her phone as she paced the floor in our bedroom while Quinn took the flatiron to another section of my hair; unlike San's hair stylist, mine was here on time. "I swear, if you two aren't here you'll never work in this city again! You don't want that. We live in New York fucking City, you need this! You need this job and I need my fucking hair did!"

Santana had been screaming into her phone like this for the past ten minutes because fifteen minutes ago her stylists were supposed to be here and from the sound of it, and how poofy her hair looks, they were not here. She was pretty much freaking the hell out and I could totally understand since today is really not one of the days where we can afford to mess up.

"Does it sound like I give a fuck about traffic?" She asked sarcastically and waved her hand in the air, "Because I don't. I don't care if Godzilla is out there right now terrorizing the shit out of the city! You get your asses out of that car and you fucking run if you have to, I don't give a shit. This is the Grammys! Traffic is no excuse on Grammy night! I don't pay you shit tons of money to hear half assed excuses!"

"She seems really angry.." Quinn teased as my eyes followed San's movements. I nodded knowingly and sighed.

"Yeah, she's been having a rough morning." I shrugged, "Morning sickness is kicking her butt today and on top of all-"

"You've got 4 more minutes, do you hear me?"

" _That_ ," I added, "She's starting to get a little grumpy."

"Yeah, I can tell." Quinn replied, "Sam and Bella made brownies last night, I brought some for you two also. I left it in the kitchen."

"Awh, thanks Q." I cooed happily and fought the urge to turn around and hug her, "You know food always makes San happy!"

"Yeah," She giggled, "Especially when there's chocolate involved."

" In 4 minutes you better be here or you're fired and the whole fucking world will know whose fault it is that I show up at the Grammys tonight looking a hot mess!" She grumbled then threw her phone at the bed before stomping her feet at the ground in frustration. I wanted to laugh at how cute her little temper tantrum was, wondering if those people really took her serious, especially when she's over here pouting and stomping her feet like some toddler would if their mom told them they couldn't get any candy while standing in the checkout line.

"Baby, come here." I half sighed, half laughed and gestured her over by patting the tops of my thighs since I couldn't really move without Quinn burning me. She turned her pout on me and with slumped shoulders she walked over then gracefully lowered herself to sit on my lap. "Take a breather."

"This is a disaster.." She muttered as her hands started fumbling in her lap. I brought my arms around her waist as best as I could and gave her a little squeeze.

"And yelling at everyone isn't going to make things better." I scolded lightly, making sure to keep my voice calm so that I wouldn't set her off too, then let my arms fall loosely around her but kept my fingers enlaced at her hip. She looked down at me, a little pout forming on her full lips, and shrugged.

"I wasn't yelling though." She mumbled innocently.

" _You weren't yelling_.." Quinn snorted as she took up another section of hair to flatiron, "I think the whole city would disagree with you there, San." She joked but I could tell San wasn't really in the mood to joke, so I gave Quinn a quick bump in her stomach with my elbow.

"You just shh." I whispered then focused my attention on Santana, noticing the creases in her forehead getting deeper and deeper, "Don't worry, honey, they'll be here. I'm sure they're doing the best that they can." I replied reassuringly and pressed a kiss to San's arm then flattened my hand over her belly and rubbed soothingly, "If they aren't here in the next 10 minutes, Quinn will do you hair."

"What?" The both deadpanned but I just shrugged.

"Totally, Q does my hair all the time. I'm sure she could do yours too!" I answered confidently, "Right, Q?"

"I-uhm.." Quinn muttered.

"I don't know how I feel.." San replied.

"I think you should feel awesome!" I cheered and smiled greatly up at Santana who looked a little uneasy about it, "Quinn's totally capable. Give them 10 more minutes; if they aren't here Q can help!"

"Well..I guess I can be down with that." San shrugged then turned a playful glare on Quinn, "Just don't burn me." Quinn only rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Don't move and I won't." She quipped making San laugh this time.

Within in 8 minutes, Santana's stylists were flying through our front door, one already unloading all their equipment while the other prepped San, lucky them. Once they got in and finally started getting Santana ready, she calmed down quite a bit. Then again, that might have to do with Quinn telling her about the brownies she brought which have now long been eaten; chocolate does wonders for a pregnant Santana. We were both sitting in the bedroom, Quinn already about halfway done with my hair while San's people started on her makeup when we all settled into light conversation.

Again, everything was just starting to fall back into routine; that is, until we were about an hour away from the limo picking us up and yours truly seemed to have _misplaced_ Quinn and Sam's passes. This year we decided to bring them along because San feels that everyone should at least go to one red carpet event in their life, so why not now. Only problem is, they can't go if they don't have the passes.

"Face it. They aren't misplaced, Britt, they're lost." San huffed as she darted around the room, overturning everything she came in contact with trying to find these two passes. She probably would've forced her stylists to help look, but they had already gone home after finishing her hair and makeup. Quinn was still here since she decided to bring her stuff over and get ready with us, but she was somewhere in the living room talking to Sam about making sure Marley is there to babysit Bella.

"No, they're definitely misplaced." I replied optimistically as I lifted our nightstand lamp, "It's here somewhere."

"Why would it be under a lamp?" She asked through a breathy laugh, but I just shrugged. "Well maybe you stuck them with your-" She stopped abruptly as I dug through the mess of shirts and shorts laid across the top of our dresser. My back was towards her so I continued to search, waiting for her to finish, but she never did.

"My what?" I called behind me but I still didn't hear an answer. I looked over my shoulder just in time to see the wavy tips of San's hair as she ran into the bathroom. Soon after her exit, I heard the familiar sounds of her getting reacquainted with her lunch. I threw down whatever shirt I was holding and followed after her. She was hunched over in her usual position, cradling the toilet on her knees, so I bent down as best as I could, considering how long the dress I was wearing, and began pulling her hair back.

"Fuck," She grumbled after that last heave, "My makeup.."

"Really?" I snickered as I rubbed softly at her back, "You're throwing up all over the place and you're worried about your makeup, really?" She let out another grumble before throwing up again.

"Hey, is everything alright? You guys find the passes?" Quinn asked as she poked her head in. I glanced up and saw that she had finally changed into her light blue dress before nodding. She looked down at San knowingly then sighed. "Ohh, I'll go grab some water."

"Thanks, Q!" I called behind me as I continued to comfort San. "You know, babe, if you're not feeling well, we can just stay home.." The death glare she gave me after I said that was enough to send even Quinn off crying.

"We can't just _stay home_ from Grammys night, Britt." She replied like it was the simplest thing in the world. "What if I win and I'm not even there to accept the award? You know what would happen if I were to miss an opportunity like that? I'd go into depression, you will go into depression, Quinn will go into depression, hell, even Bella would go into depression.."

"All because I think you should stay home because you're sick?" I teased and swept some of her hair over her shoulder before pressing a kiss to her shoulder blade, "Sounds a little dramatic to me.."

"It's the Grammys, wouldn't be the same without a little drama." She winked slyly, "Besides, if Jennifer Lawrence can show up to a red carpet event with fucking pneumonia and swine flu and the black plague, then I'm sure I can handle a little morning sickness." She shrugged as she flushed the toilet and gestured for me to help her up. She walked over to the sink and started pulling out her toothbrush and toothpaste, but I continued to roll my eyes at her through the mirror.

"Jennifer Lawrence wasn't pregnant though.." I sighed, as San began scrubbing away. She was just about to argue with me when Quinn waltzed in with a water bottle in one hand and-

"Hey, guess what I found in the fridge!" She cheered then fanned herself with the passes we've been so desperately searching for.

"What the hell?" San laughed with toothpaste coating her lips then stared back at me through the mirror, "I wonder how that got in there.." She continued to glare playfully at me as she placed the toothbrush back into her mouth and went on brushing.

"Hm..I _might_ have accidently set it down in there when I went to grab you some water this morning." I drawled out, averting my eyes to focus on anywhere but San's gaze, "Must've forgotten I put them in there."

"Huh, sounds plausible." Quinn shrugged with a smile then pressed the passes to her chest, "I'll hang on to these though so that won't happen again." She bumped my hip with hers before exiting the bathroom saying something about Sam almost here.

Now that things were finally calming down, I could actually take the moment San and I had alone to really see how amazingly beautiful she looked. I mean, she always looks beautiful even when she tells me she doesn't, she does, but she's especially hot when she's all dressed up like this. She was still standing in front of the sink reapplying her lipstick, but even at this angle she was the hottest thing on the planet! Despite _hating_ the color pink, she wore a light pink off the shoulder gown that bunched at her feet for now since she didn't have her heels on yet. It was shimmery kind of material at seemed to sparkle when the light hit it making her look like some precious gem; how am I kidding? She _is_ a precious gem, _my_ precious gem. The dress didn't cling too tightly to her where she'd begin to feel uncomfortable with it on after the first two hours, but it did show off her growing baby bump. I loved being able to show that off now and I know she did too. Her long wavy chocolate brown hair fell off one shoulder, her outgrown bangs somewhat pinned to the side showing off her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. She looked so beautiful that she actually was glowing, at least, to me she was glowing. I may be a little biased when it comes to my wife.

"You're staring." She teased, her voice breaking me from my concentration making my eyes snap up to meet hers staring back through the mirror. She was smirking that devilish smirk as her brow quirked.

"I wasn't _staring_ ," I replied somewhat confidently, "I was _admiring_." She nodded with her eyes closed as her lips formed an 'o'.

"Still the worse liar ever." She teased, spinning around to set her hands on my hips, her thumbs quick to start creating circular patterns at my hip bones. The way her voice was dropping into that low sexy husky sounding one and how her fingers were playing at my waist wasn't really making it easy for me to keep my cool. I was beginning to feel warm now but from a whole different reason, the heat shooting all throughout my body just from her simple touches. "Also," She rasped and rolled up to press her cheek against mine then proceeded to whisper into my ear, "You've got that _my wife is hotter than yours_ look on your face." She teased then pressed a kiss just below my earlobe, "And you're blushing."

I didn't even know I had been, usually I can feel it coming because the heat that creeps to my cheeks is almost unbearable. This time, I didn't feel it coming, maybe this time I was just way too involved in staring to even give myself a warning. But now I could feel it, it felt like my whole body was on fire now. Not really sure what was making me flush faster though, San using her sexy voice on me or her catching me leering. I watched as her eyes left mine to focus in on my pink lips, her tongue poking out to swipe across her own causing me to swallow thickly.

"Well, what can I say?" I barely choked out as she continued to stare at my lips making me feel all hot and bothered, "My wife is totally smokin'." I was just starting to match her seductive stare when something in her switched and she started to frown. All the confidence she was emitting just seconds before seemed to completely vanish leaving this self conscious little girl.

"You think so?" She pouted adorably, removing her hands and watched them smooth down her sides, "You don't think I look like a whale in this dress? It's just so form fitting, people are going to see all my cellulite.." She started backing away from me, her forehead crinkling in frustration, but I followed her until I could get my arms back around her.

"Honey, you're pregnant," I cooed before kissing her temple, "And you make a beautiful pregnant lady, it fits you really well, I love it." She stared back, giving me this half attempted smile. I could tell she wasn't convinced. "I thought I loved how beautiful you were before, but now, it's like you've reached a new level of hot. I've never seen anyone work being pregnant like you, babe."

"Really?" She asked timidly as she eyed her hands going over the round of her belly. I nodded with a reassuring smile then placed my hand over top hers.

"Of course." I answered confidently. "I love how much soft your skin feels, even softer than before. I love those little sounds you make when you're asleep and you're trying to roll over on your side, it's the cutest thing. I love how you use your belly as a plate when you're eating donuts on the couch. I love how cuddly you get when we watch Disney movies because you talk about how much you're going to love watching me force our kid to watch every single one. I love how your pajama shirts don't quite fit you anymore and the hem of it just barely covers your tummy." I ranted and watched as the sparkle returned to her eyes and that loving smile replaced her frown. "But most importantly, I love you being such an amazingly wonderful super h-"

I couldn't even finish what I was going to say before soft full lips crashed into my own. Her lips molded into mine as her hands went up to cup my cheeks, her thumbs brushing past my cheekbones, while nose nudged a little at the side of my nose. She pulled away slightly only to smile into another kiss, parting her lips enough to slip in a little tongue to graze my own.

"I love you, Britt." She mumbled just an inch away from my mouth, "You always know just what to say to get me thinking straight again, thank you." She leaned in for another quick peck to my lips, "You're the greatest, sexiest, smartest, kindest wife ever." I flushed at the compliment but tried to play it off by buffing my nails on my dress.

"Duh." I shrugged nonchalantly making her giggle and pull me closer into her for another kiss.

"Alright you two, limo's outside and Sam's down stairs!" Quinn shouted from our bedroom door, "So cut the lovey dovey talk and let's go." San and I just snickered as we slipped our heels on and shuffled out after Quinn.

_2 Hours Later;_

We actually get to the award show in one piece, it's a little short of a miracle considering how hectic the first half of the day has been. San and I pulled a starstruck Quinn and Sam through the mass of fellow artists hoping that Quinn doesn't go fangirl crazy if she sees anyone from Paramore and that Sam will be able to keep his cool if we happen to run into Justin Bieber. They both made it very clear on the ride to the show that they were both very excited, but we wanted them to make sure they kept themselves under control. The last thing anyone needed were two crazy fans hounding them to sign their abs or take a picture with them.

Sam and Quinn ended it behaving perfectly fine, it was Santana I had to worry about.

"Britt.." San whispered as I called for Sam and Quinn to come over. The two of them had been chatting away with Ed Sheeran for the pass ten minutes when San began tugging at my arm.

"What?" I replied, spinning around to face her. She was looking somewhere down the hall of people with this wide eyed look of disbelief. I tried following her gaze to see what she was looking at, but there were just way too many people.

"It's her, there she is." San urged, tugging on my arm again and bouncing a little in place like she was some six year old that just realized she was next in line for free ice cream. I bent down a bit and tried to follow her gaze again, squinting my eyes even, but I couldn't get what she was so excited about.

"Who? I can't see.."

"The queen.."

I quirked my brow at the way the words left her lips and snapped my head up to look again.

"The Queen of England is here?" I asked in shock as I tried my hardest to look around the many people's heads, "I didn't realize these things were so-uh-worldwide.."

"What?" She huffed and looked up at me with her nose all scrunched, "No, no, not that queen.." She snickered then nodded in the direction she'd been staring at, " _That_ queen."

I looked up and nearly fell over laughing, because after all this time, even San meeting her in person already, she _still_ was the biggest fangirl for Beyoncé. The woman was standing about six feet away, Blue Ivy clinging to her hand while Jay-Z followed closely behind, the three of them giving charming smiles to everyone they passed. They made a cute little family, it made my heart melt at seeing the three of them interacting, then it got me wondering what San and I would be like when the little one finally gets here.

"She's gorgeous." San replied breathlessly as she continued to stare, "Just look at her!"

"Yeah..I'm looking." I smirked as I stared down at Santana until I was sure she was feeling my eyes on her. She nudged me in the hip, snickering.

"Not me, Britt, _her_." Santana nodded over to Beyoncé again with that same envious grin. I knew I really didn't have anything to be jealous over, it's not a secret Santana loves me and she reminds me of how much she does every day, she was just admiring her because she is such an amazing person, who wouldn't? But that didn't keep me from joking with San.

"Alright, I'm starting to get a tiny bit jealous here babe." I teased, feigning a pout. "Maybe you should go sit with her since she's so hot and all.." San just smiled lovingly up at me and reached down to entwine our hands.

"Mm, that's okay." She whispered, sinking into my side a little as she brought up her clasped hands to her chest, "I rather sit with you." She winked up at me before kissing the back of my hand one time as her eyes carried back over to the couple she'd been staring back before. I stared too, this time continuing my daydream of what it would be like to bring our little girl or boy along with us here and how people would gush over how cute we were and how we'd make everyone fall in love with us and-

"Hey Britt? I think it's time to go in." Sam called as he nodded towards the entrance, breaking me out of my happy thoughts.

"Yes, it's time to take your seats." Jenna added. She had been hanging back a little making sure San and I said hello to everyone we were supposed to and took pictures when it was needed just like she did last year. I nodded to her and poked at San's arm.

"Come on, you can get your autographed picture later." I teased earning a swat in the arm as I directed her to where Sam and Quinn were waiting for us to enter.

We were only seated for about ten minutes when Mercedes came by to greet us. She was fourth in the lineup of performers tonight and expressing how nervous she was, but I had no doubt in my mind that she wasn't going to kill it. We had been practicing for weeks, perfecting every little twist and turn, she and all the dancers were definitely ready for this. Just as we were getting into a conversation about Mercedes' upcoming tour beginning at the end of May, the lights flickered signaling that the start of the show was near. We all gave Mercedes a good luck hug before she had to run off to her own seat.

I was excited to see who would be hosting this year, it seems like I miss the commercial explaining who all would be here and who's hosting every time it comes on tv. I blame Santana and her strange cravings that change with every commercial break. The lights dimmed again as all focus were drawn to the empty stage. Secretly I was hoping that Ellen would host two times in a row, though she can be mean when it comes to messing with you, she's hilarious and everyone needs a good laugh now and again.

"Hi guys."

"Oh my God, no way!" I gasped as a smile stretched my face as the host finally graced the stage.

"I'm Rebel Wilson, duh." The comedian huffed as she dusted off her shoulder and nodded to the crowd before throwing her hands up in the air, her custom made pink glittery brass knuckles that said _Rebel Wilson_ sparkling against the hot stage lights. She had this pink and white snapback on her head, turned to the side, and her signature pink track suit clung to her curves tastefully. "Whaddup everyone? How you feel?" The couple of rows nearest to her all raised their fists and pumped at the air as they whooped loudly. Rebel nodded to the rhythm then slowly pumped her fist in the air along with them. "Shout out to my groupies, one love." She brought two fingers to her lips, kissing them once, before spreading them to form a peace sign and directed to the crowd. Our table laughed wildly at Rebel's gangster persona, she was just so good at keeping a straight face and that made everything even more hilarious!

"Welcome to the Grammys!" She said sing-songingly as she spread her arms out and shimmied a little. "I'm sure you're wondering what a super hot, charming, smart, and successful woman like myself is doing at a place like this.." She drawled off as she walked across the stage slowly, looking over her shoulder and eyeing the audience with this seductive look, "Just ask that gentleman over there and you'll get all the information you need." Heads whipped around to see who she was looking to. "Uh-huh, you know who you are *cough* Channing *cough* Tatum." The crowd roared with laughter as his reaction played on the screen behind her. "I'm not even sure what you're doing here, you don't even sing, but hey, I'm not complaining." She winked and unzipped her tracksuit a little and uncovered her shoulder before blowing a kiss to the actor, "I'll see you after, okay?" She said with a straight face and went on with singling out other celebrities like most hosts do.

Santana and I were in stitches as she went on to do an impromptu acapella performance of Bedrock because someone from the crowd, probably part of Channing Tatum's entourage, questioned her why she was hosting if she isn't a part of the music world either. I guess they've never seen Pitch Perfect. The way she walked across the stage rapping Nicki Minaj's verse was hilarious because she was so in character and confident; she completely killed it and totally shut that guy, who I'm pretty sure was told to say those things, up!

After that she went back to introducing who she was just in case someone else in the crowd didn't think she was capable of hosting an American awards show, or that's what she said.

"So everyone always asks me what part of Australia I was born in," Rebel went on as she walked the stage, "And I always say I'm from the bush." Her lips curved into a smirk as her eyes landed on our table to see Santana hiding her snickering behind her hand. "Not _that_ bush, sicko." She teased Santana when our table was zoomed in on and our reactions showed on the huge screens set up behind Rebel. "I know you spend a lot of time there, Mrs. Pierce-Lopez.." Rebel joked with a straight face then winked in our direction.

"Actually," I piped in when I saw how red San's cheeks were turning, "She prefers landing strip." The audience screamed with laughter, even Sam and Quinn were cracking up from across the table. I really didn't think it was all _that_ funny; I mean, San _does_ prefer that.

"Oh my God, Brittany!" Santana hissed with this embarrassed grin on her face but I just leaned over and pecked her cheek and showed off a sweet smile.

"Touché," Rebel nodded seriously, "Touché."

The rest of the show went on and awards were handed out to the winners. Santana and I teamed up against Sam and Quinn making it a game to see who we thought would win in the category. Santana and I lost every time.

We were in the middle of the third performance, Katy Perry and Rihanna singing some sort of mashup of Rihanna's You Da One and Katy Perry's One That Got Away, when Jenna appeared by my side and leaned in close enough to my ear so that I could hear her over the loud music.

"Jeremy just texted me saying that you're short a dancer," Jenna stated, "He said that one of the girls began having a panic attack and ran off, he went out looking for her but someone said she fled the building so.." I let out a sigh and nodded to her.

"Thanks Jenna," I replied, "Tell him have my costume ready." Jenna nodded and went back to furiously typing away at her screen.

"Something wrong?" San asked when I started to uncurl my arm from behind her.

"We're down a dancer, I'm going to have to step in." I explained as I began scooting my chair out. San pouted adorably but I just giggled and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Don't worry, your category is the second one after Mercedes' performance so I'll be back in time."

"Yeah, you better." She huffed, trying her hardest to keep from smiling but couldn't. Just as I was about to turn away, she reached for my wrist and tugged me back down to her. "Knock'em dead, babe." She grinned then kissed my lips deeply. I reveled in her taste for only seconds before winking back.

"Always."

I didn't really have to rush when heading backstage since there are usually three categories and a commercial break before another performance is set to take place, so I had about a good thirty minutes to get into costume.

"Hey Britt, sorry to pull you away but-" Jeremy began to plead but I just laughed and set my hand on his shoulder.

"No worries, I remember my first big performance, it can be nerve racking." I shrugged casually, "And I don't mind dancing with you guys, I hate the thought of people thinking I can only boss people around." Jeremy gave a single nod, his lips still pursed in though, before going off to get the others ready.

Thirty minutes went by surprisingly fast; I had to strip from my fancy dress and slide into the black shorts and off the shoulder blouse that all the other girls were wearing and traded my nude pumps for combat boots then ran around checking on everyone before it was our time to go on.

Aside from a few of the dancers having the jitters, we were as prepared as we'd ever be. The stage crew gave us the go ahead so we all ascended the stage to get into position. We had about 45 seconds until we came back from commercial break so we had to hurry into our places. I gave the group one last word of encouragement before the music started up and Mercedes began to sing.

For spending so much time, weeks even, on perfecting this performance only have it last just five minutes was a little anti climactic. None the less, I think we completely crushed it! No one messed up, no one twisted an ankle, no one fell, no one passed out, and no one died. I think just knowing that makes the whole thing a success!

I didn't really have much time to hang out back stage and chat along with everyone as they came down from their performing buzzes because Santana's category was just after the one that was being introduced now and I had to get back to her in time. Getting dressed back into my dress and high heels was a blur because of how fast I was moving, and if it wasn't for Jenna pointing it out, I probably would've ran back to Santana still wearing the combat boots from the performance.

I was in such a rush that when I came barreling around the corner to make my way back to my seat, I nearly collided into none other than the _queen_ herself.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry!" I said apologetically as I held my arms out to grip Beyoncé's shoulders to steady her.

"That's alright," She smiled in return, her perfect grin lighting up the darkened hallway, "I should probably be entering through the entrance, not the exit." She pointed up at the sign that I was just now seeing and laughed.

"Oh yeah, right." I nodded, following her finger up at the sign and chuckled.

"Hey, great job up there! I've always find it amazing and a little rare to see a choreographer dancing with their dancers," She added and set her hand on my shoulder and ducked her head a little still with the smile on her face, " I think I've told you that before, but girl, you're really an amazing dancer."

"Thank you so much!" I grinned bashfully. She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and nodded behind me.

"Well, better get up there, I'm announcing the next category." I nodded understandingly and waved as I went back to rushing to San.

"Britt!" Quinn squealed as she waved her hands, "You were so good, you all were so good!" I flushed as her and Sam started up with the compliments and I wasn't even seated yet.

"Thank you," I replied timidly as I sat down next to San.

"Told you you'd kill it." San winked as she interlaced our fingers beneath the table and set them on the top of her belly. I grinned as she leaned over to kiss my jaw, smiling that cheek bunching grin, before turning back to see who the winner was of that last category.

Then it was the moment of truth, the award for Producer of the Year. I instantly felt San's body tense, but I slid my arm around her waist and shuffled as close as I could while still sitting in my own seat.

"I hope you've got that acceptance speech ready, babe." I winked and pressed a kiss to her hair. She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled lovingly before turning her attention back to the stage just in time to see Beyoncé walking out on stage to speak.

"Holy shit, I think I'm about to die." San grumbled but I just reached over for her hand again and held on tightly. Beyoncé went on to name off all Santana's competition while a montage of their year's work played on the screens behind her. My thumb rubbed soft circular patterns at the back of her hand as her name came up next and her own montage played back.

Quinn and Sam clapped wildly while I smiled proudly as we watched the compilation of clips, Santana definitely deserves to win this and I'm not even trying to be biased. Maybe.

"So without further ado, the Grammy for Producer of the Year goes to.." Beyonce drawled out as a woman walked across the stage to hand her an envelope.

Suddenly my heart was racing. It wasn't even my name being nominated for this award but I was still becoming a nervous wreck all the same. I know how much Santana worked for this, how much time and effort she's put into making sure SnixxJuice ran smoothly, and she did that all by herself. No one deserved this more than her; that was fact!

I felt her body shift slightly back as her spine pressed into my chest as the anticipation slowly killed the both of us. What was only just 20 seconds, the time Beyoncé took to pull open the envelope, felt like hours to San and I, it was almost unbearable.

The singer flicked open the card holding the winner then smiled down at reading the person's name, before leaning over to grip the mic with one hand.

" _Santana Pierce-Lopez_."

The both of us froze at hearing the name. Time really didn't stop, it just blurred, like we heard the cheering and clapping but neither of us could focus. I think Santana had worse than me, because her jaw completely dropped and her eyes sprung open. My vision slowly cleared and the sounds of everyone clapping for her became less fuzzy sounding.

"Baby, that's you!" I squealed, jostling her a little out of her state of shock.

"M-Me?"

"Yes!" I yelled and grabbed her cheeks and kissed her hard, "You won, San, you won!"

"I won?"

"Damnit Santana, yes!" Quinn laughed, "Get your ass up there before they take it back." San turned her gaze from me to Quinn then up to the stage where Beyonce was smiling with the Grammy in her hands and smiled so hard I thought her face was going to rip in two.

"Holy shit, babe, I won!" San screamed and jumped up out of her chair, forgetting that she's pregnant and she can't really do that anymore. "Fuck." She hissed and grabbed for the back of her chair to brace herself. I quickly shot up too and set my hands on her sides to steady her then ducked my head so she could hear me.

"You okay?"

"Mhm, yeah, just got up too fast is all." She grinned then kissed my cheek, grazing the backs of her fingers across my jaw, before walking through the crowd to ascend the steps of the stage. I slowly sat back down, watching as she walked confidently through the aisles and up to get her award.

"I can't believe it, Britt, she won!" Sam cheered with his big dopy grin, "And freaking _Beyoncé_ is giving her the award!" Quinn just laughed along with Sam, the both of them still clapping their hands along with the rest of the audience.

I could believe it though, San winning this that is, she could do anything, even win Grammies! She was totally capable so I wasn't surprised at all. This award was hers ever since she _didn't_ hear her name called when we were here last year, those other people didn't stand a chance.

I watched as Santana walked across the stage towards one of her favorite singers and smirked thinking that she was probably having an inner panic attack, not from just winning a Grammy, but because it was _Beyoncé_ who was awarding it to her.

Beyoncé handed off the award to Santana then gave her a friendly hug before stepping back so San could speak out at the audience. She still had that vacant stare, but it quickly went away when her eyes landed on me. I waved a little then formed a heart with my fingers then brought it to my chest before looking back up at her. She blushed hard and focused down at the mic stand, clearing her throat before she spoke.

"Holy shit." She exhaled as she stared at the award in her hand then quickly sucked in her lips guiltily. "Sorry, I'm still working on that," She grinned awkwardly and pointed down at her belly, "You should see the swear jars Britt makes me keep at home, and yes, that's _jars_ as in plural." She giggled then stared down at the award again and got lost in its shine, "Wow, I can't believe I'm up here right now. This is crazy!" She smiled wildly, shaking her head with disbelief before staring back out at the crowd. "I'd like to thank my sister, Cassie, for reminding me that it's important to love what you do, even if you come from a family of doctors. Thanks to my parents for giving me the motivation to push harder for what I want, even if it wasn't always in a positive way. Thanks to my partner and co-owner of SnixxJuice, Kurt Hummel, for finding me at that karaoke bar years ago and giving me this job. Also, thanks to those guys that almost beat the crap out of him, we probably would've never met if that didn't _almost_ happen."

She chuckled a bit then she locked eyes on me and smiled, "Thanks to the Pierces for raising such wonderful daughters. Thanks to Quinn for making Brittany take my order that one fateful day years ago."

Quinn snickered and nudged my foot with hers beneath the table and we both cracked up at the memory.

"Thanks to my amazing team at SnixxJuice and thanks to all the beautiful fans." San's eyes carried over the crowd again before locking back with my eyes, "And most importantly, thanks to my wife for always believing in me even when I didn't believe in myself. You've always been my biggest support system, even when we were just friends, and I don't really tell you how much I appreciate that about you. You're just-you're really something special, so thank you for putting up with all my crazy, Brittz, I love you."

My cheeks flushed deeply as she professed her love for me on national television.

She winked at me then grabbed onto the mic again and pumped the award in the air before staring straight into the camera, "And I love you all, thank you so much for such an amazing honor! Goodnight."


	4. Chapter 4

_March;_

"Saaaan!" I called as I propped my arms up on the edge of our bath tub before setting my chin over top. "Hurry up, the water is losing its hotness!" We had just come back from work, another long day, well long for me, not for San since she left for home early, and we just wanted a nice night in to relax. It was Santana's idea to start up a bath; she had called me while I was on my way home to remind me to pick up her vitamins and asked if I wanted her to get a bath ready. I was totally down for it, but when I agreed, I thought she was included in this bath, not me sitting in here alone for the past eight minutes. Baths aren't really fun when you're alone.

"Are you still in the tub?" I heard her ask from somewhere in the bedroom. I quirked my brow and looked down at myself, half my body still submerged in soapy water, then shrugged before looking out at the opened door.

"Uhm, yeah?"

"Then I don't think the water has lost its…hotness." I rolled my eyes at hearing her cocky tone, giggling softly until she presented herself at the door of the bathroom with a proud smirk pasted on her face. "You rollin' your eyes at me, woman?" She huffed, crossing her arms over her fluffy white robe. I eyed her carefully trying to see whether she was joking or if I really just set her off; that's become sort of an issue now since her hormones have her all over the place sometimes. Thankfully, she gave herself away by snickering.

"Get naked and come over here already." I demanded, my lips curling into a mischievous grin before nodding her over with the flick of my chin. She raised her brow at me and took her bottom lip between her teeth before smirking and slipped the robe off her shoulders, letting it pool at her ankles.

"Well, since you asked _so_ nicely." She teased and moved towards the tub. I leaned back and held my hands up to her so she could ease herself in without slipping. She took them gratefully and dipped one leg into the tub then brought the other in slowly. I spread my legs a little so that she could wiggle in the space between them then lay back against my chest. As soon as she settled in, I wrapped my arms around her, setting my hands atop her growing belly, while hers rested on my knees and we just sat there content in each other's company.

"I like this." I hummed as I set my chin on her shoulder and leaned my head over until it was resting against hers.

"Me too." She sighed as she ran her hands from the tops of my knees down my shins then back up again, repeating the process a couple of times. It was such a calming thing that I could probably fall asleep right in this tub to her doing that. "How was work? Busy?"

I let out a breathy laugh as I rolled my head back against the tub, "Yeah, who knew filling in for a dancer at the Grammy's would cause such a spike in people wanting to work with me." She leaned further into me, resting her head back against my shoulder then tilted her chin up as the backs of her fingers grazed my jaw line.

"I knew." She grinned proudly, "You're so talented, babe, everyone wants a piece of you. People would be crazy _not_ to want to work with you." I felt my cheeks flushing at hearing her speak so highly of me, it's crazy that at one point, before things _really_ started picking up, I didn't think of myself as anything special. I had it engraved in my head that I was just another dancer, that though I've always been told how great I am, I'd never be successful; I'd never get my big break.

But I was so very wrong. I _did_ make it and to know that I pretty much started from the bottom makes success taste so much sweeter.

"Thanks," I replied through a toothy smile before turning my head just a tad to press my lips to her forehead. She shrugged her shoulders casually as she cupped some water in her hands and poured it over her belly and watched the droplets roll off the sides. I moved my hands away from her tummy so I could pull her hair to the side and drape it over her shoulder then smoothed my hands down her shoulder blade.

"You're not going into work tomorrow, right?" She asked as she stilled her hands and moved them to squeeze at my knees.

"Mhm!" I hummed happily as I moved my hands back to her stomach and stared drawing hearts just above her belly button with my fingertip. "It's going to be a very special appointment, definitely wouldn't miss it."

She turned her head to me, smiling her cheek bunching grin again, then laid her head back on my shoulder. "I think I'm nervous.." She said quietly as she dropped her hands from my knees and started fumbling with them in the space between her boobs and belly.

"How come?" I asked just as quietly, taking in the way she seemed to shrink into a scared girl again. She just shrugged at first, letting her fingers tangle with her others, as her eyes stayed lowered. "You don't have to be nervous," I reassured and leaned in to pepper her shoulder with soft kisses, "I'll be with you the whole way." I wrapped my arms tighter around her midsection as I nuzzled against her cheek.

"I know you will." She grinned lovingly and brought her hand up to caress my cheek. "I guess I'm more anxious than nervous." She added after I started washing her hair, "It's like everything will change once we know, you know? We'll have to start thinking of names and setting up the nursery, knowing the gender makes everything so real. I mean, it's real now but at the same time we still don't know very much." She was rambling and I could just feel her body tensing up against me; she's clearly been having deep thoughts about this appointment.

"San, we've still got four months to do all of that.." I replied as I ran my fingers through her soapy hair, "There's no hurry in picking a name or decorating just because we find out if we're having a girl or a boy. We've got all the time we want, babe, there's no need to stress it."

"Yeah, I guess so.." She sighed unconvincingly and cupped some water in her hands and let it spill over her belly.

"We don't have to," I added as I washed the soap from her long hair, "We don't have to know if you don't want to.." Her hands stilled at her stomach as she turned her head to find my eyes.

"But that's not fair to you; I know how excited you are about this." She replied guiltily with her brows crinkling.

"San, I get excited about a lot of things." I giggled trying to lighten the mood, "And honestly, if it makes you feel comfortable we don't have to know till you're ready. It won't bother me not one bit. Boy or girl, I don't care as long as I get to have a cute little baby to go along with my cute wife." I teased and pressed my lips to her cheek quickly before continuing to wash out the soap.

"Really?" She asked breathlessly, "You'd do that?"

"Of course I would," I shrugged innocently, "If knowing the gender makes you nervous then we don't have to know. No biggie."

"Damn," She exhaled with a bright smile on her face, "I love you."

"Ditto." I winked then went back to washing her hair noticing the way her shoulders eased.

"It's your decision too though.." She added after a long pause.

"And my decision is whatever makes you comfortable." I replied matter of factly.

"Britt..that's cheating." She whined playfully, "You can't always agree with me, I don't want to take away from you because of my own craziness." I laughed and shook my head at her. "What do _you_ want to do?" She tilted her head back, our eyes connecting instantly, as she sought an answer.

"I'd love to know what we're having, San, but we can wait." I answered as I tangled our fingers together beneath the water. She nodded slightly, her eyes closing like she was about to go into some deep thinking, then licked her lips. "You don't have to make a decision now, you know. We've got the rest of tonight and all afternoon to figure out what we want to do." I added and squeezed a little tighter at our joined hands, "Get out of that pretty little head, my dear." She smiled a crooked grin before nodding a little. "Come on, let's get dried off so we can eat!" I cheered and shuffled forward until my chest was pressed into her back. She scooted forward so that I could pull my legs back far enough to stand up behind her and step out of the tub to grab our robes and towels. I slipped into my robe quickly and slung the other robe over my shoulder as I helped San step out from the tub.

"Your hair up in a towel like that reminds me of a big dumpling." She mumbled as I handed her the robe to slip into.

"I don't see how you get that, but I'll go with it." I giggled as I tightened the knot around my waist. "I guess this means you're craving Chinese tonight?" She nodded happily before wrapping her arms around my torso and burying her face against the fluffiness of my robe lapels as best as she could with her baby bump in the way. "Oh, and I'm guessing you want to watch a movie too since you're extra cuddly tonight.." She didn't say anything, but her nodding against my chest was answer enough. "Alright, you go pick out a movie and I'll go find my phone and order."

About 45 minutes later, we were cuddled up on the couch half empty cartoons of take out littering the coffee table as Time Traveler's Wife played on the big screen. I was actually surprised that she picked that movie considering she was so cuddly earlier, I assumed she'd want to watch some happy movie instead, but that's what she chose. I always found the movie really confusing and I've seen it like six times already! I just don't understand how there are like four versions of this guy wandering around and how does the wife handle not having the love of her life around all the time? It's just, it's really sad and confusing and I don't like it.

"Oh God, this is the best part.." San whimpered as she pulled at my tshirt that I had changed into after ordering the food and buried her face in it. I shook my head at her, trying to keep from laughing, as I ran my hand down her back then over her hip until it was resting on the side of her stomach and turned my attention back on the screen. I was sort of trying to follow along with the storyline again when if felt the tiniest of movements beneath my palm. I had been smoothing my hand around at her stomach but when I felt something moving, I instantly froze. My eyes widened as I looked down at my hand on San's belly waiting to see if it would happen again. It was just a soft graze against my skin, but I still felt it. All this time, ever since San first started feeling the baby moving around in there, I couldn't feel anything. It was like they sensed me and got all shy or something or I'd just miss it, but this is different.

I continued to stare, waiting because I wasn't focusing on it before; I wasn't ready that time, but now I'm ready. I flattened out my hand and brought the other up to cup the front that way if they did happen to move again, there's no way I wouldn't be able to feel it. But seconds were turning into minutes and the hope of feeling something again was starting to dwindle. Just as I was about to pull my hands away, there it was again!

"San.." I gasped excitedly as I moved my hand slightly over her skin, feeling it hit against my softly as the baby inside her nudged at her belly. "San..I can-I can feel them." I was in awe, totally overcome with joy as I finally felt the baby kick for the first time. Sure I've felt Bella kick before when Quinn was pregnant, but it means so much more when it's _my_ baby in there.

"I know." She grinned, her brown eyes softening as she looked to me, then overlapped my hands with hers. "They're saying hi." I felt tears pricking at my eyes as I nodded with a giant dopy grin on my face then turned back to stare at our hands. It was like the best moment in my whole life and it was so hard to contain my happiness, but thinking if I start getting too excited they might stop, I held back and just stared.

"Hi baby." I hummed as I moved our hands around her belly slowly feeling the tiny nudges against different areas of my hands, "Hi."

_The Next Afternoon;_

We were seated in the waiting room of our usual doctor's office, alone like always, as San sat next to me contently sipping on her slushie. We would've checked in on time if it wasn't for her practically grabbing the steering wheel and driving us to the nearest gas station because _baby_ wanted a slushie. I had tried to tell her we could pick one up right after the appointment was finished, but she was adamant of having one now so I drove to the nearest gas station and let her go get what she wanted.

It was a bit of a hassle because San and I can't just randomly go into places like a gas station without being bombarded by the paparazzi, who always seem to be lurking about.

"You're beautiful!" Flash.

"You'll make wonderful mothers!" Flash.

"The baby is going to be so adorable!" Flash.

We muttered _thanks_ beneath our breath as we tried keeping our head ducked and made our way inside hoping that they won't follow us in; they usually don't. I kept my arm wrapped around San's waist protectively though, force of habit since the old lady incident awhile back, and directed her towards the door, letting her enter first just in case someone _did_ try to follow us inside.

"God, they get worse and worse every time!" San groaned as she made her way towards the back of the small convenience store.

"At least they're always saying nice things though." I shrugged and smiled at the few customers in line as we passed. They stared wide eyed at us and I almost forgot that aside from reporters being so damn forward about our fame, regular people also get a bit star struck. It's funny.

"Yeah, I guess." She sighed and reached for a large cup and started mixing all of the flavors together to form this ugly purplish brown concoction. I scrunched my nose as I watched her go back and forth between the flavors, the smile on her face totally counteracting the gross mix in her hands. She looked over her shoulder at me as I leaned on the edge of the sticky counter then smiled toothily before going to put a lid on her nearly overflowing cup. "Yum!" She hummed happily as she stuck the straw in and brought it to her lips and slurped. I just giggled and hooked my arm with hers and sort of pulled her towards the line so we could pay.

After paying and signing a couple autographs for the workers, we were back to pushing past the reporters and trying to get back into the car so we'd be on time for our appointment. They were a little more nosy this time though and since I was already a little peeved at them for sticking so close to Santana, who was totally oblivious to everything that wasn't in her slushie cup and coming out of a straw, my patience was running thin.

"When are you due?" Flash.

"Whenever nine months is over." I huffed as I kept my head lowered.

"Would you want a girl or a boy?" Flash.

"I want you to go away." I walked around the car and opened the door for San, helping her ease into the seat since she didn't even try to hold on to anything besides her dear slushie cup in her hands.

"How far along is she?" Flash.

"13 months." I answered as I walked back around to my side of the car and opened the door.

"What na-" I closed it right on the question, thankful that San's windows were tinted so dark that they couldn't see me fuming from annoyance right now. I remember when I didn't think they were so bad, but now, I understand why San hates them so much! They're annoying as hell!

"That was a good one, baby." San grinned as she side glanced at me with the straw between her teeth then leaned over to set her hand on my thigh.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like that one." I giggled, seeing her so adorable with her pregnant belly and her sweater and the damn slushie in her hand cancelling out all the peskiness of the reporters.

Now we're still in the waiting room and Santana's still slurping away at her slushie like her life depended on it.

"Tastes good?" I teased as I watched her lift the straw to her lips again. Her gaze lifted from her cup and up to meet my eyes.

"Mhm!" She hummed then withdrew the straw from her lips and offered it to me, "Want some?" I took one look at the purplish brown mixture and scrunched my nose again.

"No thanks." I replied, shaking my head, "All yours." She shrugged casually and went back to slurping, "I'm surprised you haven't gotten a brain freeze yet." I teased after watching her drink for a whole 15 seconds straight. Just then my phone started buzzing in my back pocket making the plastic seat I was sitting on vibrate. I quirked my brow at the feeling and quickly dug out my phone, eyeing the screen skeptically as I saw a number I didn't recognize fill the screen.

"Who is it?" San asked as she leaned over my shoulder a little to see, but I could only shrug since I didn't know. My finger hovered over the answer button when San scoffed.

"What? I shouldn't answer?" I asked when I met her scowl. She shook her head 'no'.

"At least let them leave a message, we're at the _doctor's_ right now.." She drawled out the word and let her left hand fall to her belly to emphasize her meaning. "No phone calls."

"Okay, no phone calls." I nodded and pressed a kiss to her cheek before turning my phone to silent, not before noticing the _one new voicemail_ icon pop. I could listen to that later though, this is a special appointment and it should have all my attention.

"Pierce-Lopez?" The nurse called as she opened the door and presented herself in the doorway, "Come on back." I nodded and stood up then offered out my hands to San so I could help her up then we followed the nurse back to our usual room. "Okay, Dr. Meyer will be in shortly."

"Thanks." I answered as the woman left the room. San wiggled impatiently on the bed, the drink resting on her thighs as she stared down at it. "You given it anymore thought?" I asked as I watched her nerves slowly take over her thoughts. She looked up and stared at me with her darkened brown eyes then shrugged with this hopeless smile. She looked conflicted and it kind of broke my heart. "That's okay, baby, don't worry about it. Some people wait till the baby is actually born to know, it's like an extra surprise." I replied reassuringly and reached over to entangle our hands. "If that's us, then I'm okay with that."

Her lips parted to speak but she was interrupted by the sound of her phone vibrating against her keys in her purse. Her eyes darted from mine to her purse as her brow quirked.

"I thought I turned it off.." She mumbled and handed me her slushie so she could dig around in her bag to find the phone. "Oh, it's Cassie." She acknowledged happily and went to answer it when I swatted at the air and shook my head.

"If I can't answer my phone, you can't either." I said sternly and held out my hand for the phone.

"But it's Cassie.." She said with a pout and looked down at her phone then back up to me.

"So?" I laughed, "The President of the United States could've been calling me and I still didn't answer." She let out a breathy giggle before rolling her eyes at me.

"Fine, here." She sighed and handed me her phone so I could turn it off. We sat there for another couple minutes until Dr. Meyer waltzed in with all smiles.

"Hi ladies, how are we today?" She greeted as she took a seat on her rolly chair and had Santana get into her usual position so she could do their routine checkup. San answered all her usual questions about symptoms and pains and whatnot while I sat on the sidelines and watched like normal.

"Stress levels are looking better, I'm loving that." Dr. Meyer grinned as she thumbed through her papers attached to San's clipboard.

"Yeah, that whole low blood sugar thing really freaked me out so.." San answered in a nervous tone. "I've cut my work week down by half so that really helps."

"That's wonderful news!" Dr. Meyer answered cheerfully and went back to asking more questions. It wasn't until San was leaning back against the bed with her sweater rolled up over her belly and that blue goop was out that I really started getting interested. "So you're about 26 weeks now, let's take a look to see what we can see." Dr. Meyer hummed as she took out the necessary tools and turned on the screen above that would project the image of what was inside San's belly.

I stood up and found myself by San's bedside, her hand finding their way into mine as we both stared up at the screen. I could feel my chest tightening from all the happiness I felt as Dr. Meyer went over where the head was, their tiny little feet and hands, the nose, even ears! They were so damn cute in there, it made me want to meet them now and just shower them with kisses.

"Look how tiny their fingers are, B." San whispered as Dr. Meyer paused at the hands. I smiled down at San lovingly and nodded as I watched the way her eyes started to water and the smile stretch across her lips. "They're so little.."

"Would you like to know what you're having, mama?" Dr. Meyer asked with a friendly grin as she kept her tool pressed against San's belly projecting the image of the baby's head on the screen behind her. I looked down at San still staring up at the screen like she hadn't even heard Dr. Meyer's question then looked back to the doctor who was still waiting for an answer. When San made no attempt to reply, I cleared my throat to speak instead.

"Uhm, I think we're going to wai-"

"Yes." San interrupted and sent me a confident smile as she squeezed a little on our joined hands. "I think we'd like to know what we're having, unless you don't want to yet Brittz." I looked down into her softening brown eyes, trying to pick up on any signs of hesitance, but nothing.

"Are you sure?" I whispered but she just nodded in response. I eyed her carefully again but she just rolled her eyes playfully and nodded again. "Yeah, okay, if you want to then it's okay with me too."

"So yes?" Dr. Meyer asked with her perfectly sculpted brows raised to her hairline.

"Yes." San nodded confidently and settled our hands under her chin.

"Lovely." The doctor responded happily and moved the tool around on San's stomach a little more, "Well, looks like you'll be having a boy, my dears." She said through a toothy grin and looked up, blue eyes flicking between each of ours, "Congratulations!"

"A boy?" San breathed then looked up at me like she was trying to double check with me that she heard right.

"A boy." I nodded and took my free hand to brush a fallen strand of hair behind her ear, "Oh boy!" She giggled as I cheered happily while Dr. Meyer cleaned off San's belly.

"Yup, exciting news!" Dr. Meyer sang as she spun around in her rolly chair to toss out the wipes that she used on San's tummy.

"Wow, a boy.." San sighed contently again as she rolled her sweater back over her belly and palmed her stomach. "We're having a boy, babe!" She said again, this time more excited than before.

"Mhm," I hummed in agreement as Dr. Meyer said we were free to go and schedule our next appointment. I helped San off the bed and let her arms tangle around mine as we headed back out to the lobby.

Once we set up our appointment, San and I were on our way home, so ready to kick our shoes off and relax. Though I'm not the pregnant one, sometimes I feel like San's tiredness influences mine and after our eventful day of running errands before heading off to the doctor's, the both of us were wiped out!

"Home sweet home." San sighed as we walked through the front door of our apartment. She was already flicking off her shoes and going to the bedroom, probably to changed into sweatpants since that's pretty much all she's comfortable in now, while I went into the kitchen to see what we had for dinner. I swung open the fridge door and hunched down to look inside to see what I could whip up that would be quick and easy and there won't be any threat of me burning down the place if I tried. I've pretty much mastered making wraps and lucky me, San's been loving them as of late. I started pulling out all the ingredients for the wraps when I heard distant chattering that sounded closer as I unloaded my arms.

"Can't hear you, babe!" I called over my shoulder while I took out the cutting board and lined up the vegetables to cut, but her voice was still evident. Sighing, I dropped the knife on the board and walked in the direction of the sound which led me to the bedroom. "You talking to me?" I asked as I walked in only to see her sitting on the edge of the bed with the phone to her ear.

"It's Cassie." She replied and pointed at the phone before getting her attention drawn back to the other person, "Yup, that's her. Yeah, I'll tell her." She nodded as she smiled at me, "Cassie says hi and so does Mason." I grinned at that and told them I said hi too then pressed a kiss to her head and left her to talk to her sister in private.

Back in the kitchen, I remembered that I too had a missed call from earlier. After finishing making the wraps, I scavenged for my phone and tapped at the screen until I was listening to the voicemail. I had the phone wedged between my shoulder and ear, my hands busy with plating San's food, that when the speaker finally told who they were and what they wanted I nearly dropped everything.

I froze as the seconds went on, mostly from utter shock. I listened to it over and over almost six times just to make sure I was hearing correctly, it was that shocking! As I was about to listen to the message one last time, I felt San's arms wrap around my waist and her protruding tummy press into the small of my back as her lips found my shoulder blade.

"Who was it?" She asked as she hugged my back, but I was still somewhat recovering from the message.

"How's Cassie? Everything's alright?" I asked a little too anxiously as I spun around in her embrace, totally dodging her question. She quirked her brow at me, her brows scrunching, then shrugged.

"She could be better, I guess. Her and Tony are having problems again. I mean, I try to tell her that you can't change anyone you know? You can only do so much and if they aren't making any effort to help themselves, then why should she." San sighed, shaking her head at her words. "It's such a stressful environment over there, I feel bad for Mason. I hate how that fucker of a husband just treats them like garbage, it makes me sick Britt. Let me find that asshole alone on the street in a dark alley, he'll never know what hit him!"

"Babe," I chuckled, "First of all, you're pregnant so no fighting for you. Second of all, why on Earth would you be in a dark alley? Third of all, violence is never the answer. Forth, you owe the swear jar." I curled my arms around her shoulders and let my hands tangle into her long dark hair as I smirked down at her.

"Oh, it's the answer when my sister and nephew's happiness is at stake!" She answered confidently through her cocky grin. "How about you? Did you see who it was that called you?" The question was back up again and this time there wasn't really anywhere for me to turn to try and avoid it since I was literally trapped in her arms.

"Uhm, yeah, I listened to it." I shrugged casually, willing myself to try and gain back so lost confidence. San looked to me skeptically with those analyzing deep brown eyes of hers that seemed to stare right through me.

"Well? Who was it?" She asked through a breathy giggle, "It better not be some ex girlfriend I don't know about who all of a sudden wants to be friends because that shit's not going to happen."

"That's two for the swear jar.." I snickered trying to ease the tension only I was feeling within myself.

"I'll pay the swear jar a million times if you'd just tell me..you're kind of starting to worry me here, B." She replied through a faltering smile. "Can you just say it already?"

"Alright, fine." I groaned tiredly and took in a deep calming breath, "It was Beyoncé's management team. They wanted to know if I was interested in working with them on her upcoming music video. She's asked for me personally." My eyes flickered between deepening browns for any sign of anger or protest or whatever, but nothing.

"That's all?" She laughed with her nose scrunching cutely. I nodded gravely. "God, I thought it was something bad like a long lost brother was trying to reconnect with you or something. You should totally do it, babe! I mean, it's Beyoncé; of course you'll do it. Did they give you any more information? Where are they shooting? Do they need a place to practice? You know SnixxJuice is always welcoming to the queen." I watched as she rambled on, asking all these questions, and how she seemed so excited for me but I've yet to tell the most important part.

"She doesn't want to use SnixxJuice, San.." I sighed then watched her shoulders slump sadly.

"Well that kind of sucks.."

"She doesn't want to use SnixxJuice because she wants to practice at _her_ studio and use _her_ dancers.." I added and watched as the dots connected in San's head, "And that's all in Los Angeles." I stared back trying to catch the slightest of lip quivers or glazed over eyes, but nothing, she was emotionless.

"So what you're saying is.." San drawled out after a short pause of us just staring at each other.

"Yeah," I nodded already knowing what she was going to ask, "Beyoncé wants me in LA."


	5. Chapter 5

Neither of us said anything for a good three minutes; it was just pure silence. I really wasn't sure what she was feeling, like if this was going to turn into some big argument, but I wasn't sure how I was feeling either. Of course this was an amazing job opportunity for me, like how many people can say Beyoncé has requested for them personally, but Santana's five months pregnant, there's no way I could leave her especially with what happened just last month. I'd be constantly worrying myself to death not being able to see what's going with her! On top of that, it's _Beyoncé_ that wants me. There's no messing up when it comes to her and I've somehow made a really good impression on her already. I can't ruin that by screwing up, I can't let her down. I don't know if I could handle that type of pressure. Then again, it's dancing; one of the very few things I'm absolutely sure I'm good at.

"The-uh-message said that I'd only be gone for six days," I added thinking that it would trigger Santana to speak, but she remained silently thinking. "They said I've got a few days to think about it, so.."

I stared back at her pursing lips as she stared down at her hands meddling in concentration. The silence was starting to get unbearable the longer we stood before each other. I wasn't sure if she was getting upset with me and we were about to go into some yelling match or what, but I couldn't take it. I couldn't take not knowing. I sucked in a deep breath then licked my lips.

"Can you just say something, please?" I sighed as I brought up my hand to knead at my brows tiredly, "I rather we talk this out aloud than you having a whole conversation about it in your head where I can't hear.." Her gaze flicked up from her hands and to my eyes as she slowly nodded.

"Right, sorry." She mumbled then set her hands on top of her belly and smiled to me, "Let's talk it out."

"Okay.." I drawled out, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, and then leaned back against the kitchen counter. The both of us stared at each other again, but this time we were actually waiting for the other to speak. It dawned on me just then that we've never been in this type of situation before and neither of us knew how to go about _talking it out_. San tilted her head to the side, staring at me with her deep brown eyes, with this look like she was expecting me to say something. I guess it _was_ my idea to do it this way so I _should_ be the one talking, but I didn't really know how.

But the thing I love about Santana is she just knows when that happens. I don't have to say anything and she doesn't have to ask, she just knows for some reason.

Her lips curled into a amused grin as she crossed her arms, "You know this is _your_ decision, B. I'm only here to tell you what _I_ think, but really, it's all you." I looked back at her with my brows furrowed then shook my head.

"I want to decide together though.." I sighed, my arms folding to mirror her stance, "But I'm stuck." My eyes left hers when I saw that analyzing look in those soft browns.

"Well I think this is an awesome opportunity for you. It's not every day that the queen wants to work with you; personally I knew it was bound to happen, so I think you should go for it." She replied happily with a little shrug of her shoulder. I felt like I was searching for an answer and hoping that San knew it already, but that wasn't it.

"Yeah, I guess," I muttered with the nod of my head then peeked through my lashes at her, "But, I just-I can't leave you here by yourself."

"Brittany..I'm not going to let you use me as an excuse to hold yourself back." She said sternly, unfolding her arms to brush her finger beneath my chin to look to her directly. "What are you going to do? Put all these great opportunities on hold until I have the baby? But then when he's here, he's going to need the _both_ of us and you'll want to be here to see him so what then? Are you going to hold yourself back again? I don't want that for you, babe, I don't want us to hold you back." I pressed my lips tightly together, trying my hardest not to cry in front of her, not because I didn't want her to see me cry, but because I couldn't understand _why_ I felt like I was about to.

"You're not," I stammered, my head snapping up to meet her gaze as my hand reached out to her round belly, "Neither of you are holding me back." I answered sternly, "And It's not that I'm afraid of going, San, I just don't want to leave you by yourself. I mean, you remember what happened last month. What if that happens again and I'm not here? No one's here? I can't-I can't leave knowing that.."

"Britt, even with you here, _anything_ could happen." She answered as her hands ran down my arms, "I mean, it's a small chance it would since I'm taken care of so well." She teased trying to ease the tension, "But that doesn't mean you have to stay to continue that.." I thought her words over and over in my head trying to come up with a plan, but nothing. "I mean, I'd love for you to stay with me all the time, but your popularity is growing and I know I can be needy but I want you to experience working with different people too." She added, keeping her voice calm, "Even if that means going away for a little bit.."

"Yeah.." I exhaled, "Maybe I should just let this one go for now, you know? It's not really good timing for us with the baby coming an all, I could hold off." I mumbled mostly to myself, "Maybe I'm not ready to work with big names like Beyoncé yet? It's Beyoncé, like what if she realizes she's not what she thought I was? I-I don't want to disappoint anyone..I mean, one mess up could follow me forever you know?"

"Hold up," San huffed and lifted her hand to stop me from talking. I swallowed thickly when I saw her gaze turn steely on me, something she usually just uses on people at work. "I _know_ you're not trying to tell me you don't think you're good enough to work with Beyoncé." I felt my throat tighten as I stared down at my toes in shame. "Because if you are, that's just crazy talk." I wanted to believe her, I did, but it's only natural for me to get a little intimidated when I've only worked with San's artists.

"San, I'm not like you." I sighed hopelessly, "I-I don't just walk into places and naturally own it. I've only got one face I wear, I've got nothing to hide behind, I don't have a mask like you do. This is it, San, what you see is what you get and what if she doesn't like what she sees? I don't have that confidence like you do, I don't-"

"Britt, stop." She interrupted and placed her hands gently on my arms, "Look at me." I sucked in a breath before looking up into her analyzing eyes. "You are an _amazing_ choreographer. You do what you love and you love what you do, that doesn't go unnoticed. It's rare to find people out there like you, Britt, you're one of a kind and _anyone_ would kill to work with you." She stared back still staring deeply into my eyes like the deeper she stared the more her words would sink into me. "You're right, you're not like me." She added and let her hands fall to grasp mine, "You're better. You don't need to put a mask on because believe it or not, you _do_ have that natural confidence. No one defies you when you walk into a room because you _do_ naturally own it, and you don't even have to be a bitch like I have to be to do it." She smiled proudly at me as she pulled our hands to rest atop her belly, "You dance with your heart and you do it so beautifully, so please, please, don't tell me you don't think you're good enough." Her eyes locked on mine again as she ran her thumb over the backs of my hands in hers and smiled, "You _are_ good enough, babe."

We were quiet for a moment as I thought about everything she had said. It made my chest ache with how much love she felt for me, you could just tell by her words, and how much she supported me. I wanted to reach out and kiss her for pulling me out of my negative thoughts, so I did.

"You really think that, San?" I asked timidly as I pulled away from her lips.

"Of course I do." She answered simply.

"So you'd want me to go?" I asked hesitantly as my arms smoothed around her waist to the small of her back.

"Yes, I'd want you to go." She confirmed with a slight nod. Still, that wasn't the answer I was looking for. I wanted something to appease both sides of me wanting to go and me wanting to stay, but I didn't know what that was yet.

Or so I thought.

"What if you came with me?" I said breathlessly as the idea entered my mind. It was more of me thinking aloud and when I realized what I had said, I liked the idea more and more. "Yeah! You can come with me!"

"Britt.."

"We'd be in the same state the whole time, I can check up on you still, we can sleep in the same bed at night, we could go sightseeing, well I can since I've never been there before and you have, we could go to the beach and go swimming, we could have little lunch dates on the boardwalk or whatever they have there, we could-"

"Britt, baby, I can't go with you." She interrupted by shaking her head sadly and a soft smile playing at her lips. I quirked my brow at hearing that and instantly felt my shoulders slump at her shooting my idea down so quickly.

"B-But why not?"

"Stop pouting." She giggled as she ran her thumb along my bottom lip that I hadn't realized I was puffing out, "I can't because you're going to be working. It's no use in me going with you when I'd probably be doing the exact same thing I'd be doing there over here. You'd be out choreographing these awesome sets with Beyoncé like the hardworking woman you are while I'd be lying in bed at the hotel bugging the hell out of the room service people. I'd just be better off staying here if that's the case, you know?"

That _did_ make sense. She was so freaking right about it all, it sort of made me feel silly for even coming up with the idea. It was clear that she didn't want her being pregnant to put any restrictions on me, she didn't want to be the reason I miss any chances, and knowing that made me feel so loved.

"This isn't some vacation where I can tag along, Britt, "She went on, "Though I'd love to be there with you when you see LA for the first time and go to the beach and watch your hot body splash around in the ocean, I can't. At least, not right now. This is a job opportunity, a really amazing one, and me being there would just distract you."

"You wouldn't distract me, San.." I answered just as quickly like it was the simplest thing.

"Britt.." She smirked with her eyes narrowing on me, "Now you and I both know that's not true."

"Yeah..maybe you're right." I chuckled bashfully, my foot scuffing at the floor as I averted my eyes. I was silent for a few more minutes just taking in everything she said and letting it mix with my own thoughts.

"What about you?" She asked trying to lure me back into the conversation. "You know _I_ want you to take this, but what do _you_ what to do?" I looked back to her hoping that I'd find my answer in her eyes, but I knew she wanted to know what _I_ was thinking and not how _she_ was influencing me. She wanted to make sure I didn't want to go just because it was what she wanted me to do, she wanted to express her opinion, but that was all. The rest was up to me.

"I-I want to go." I stammered, struggling to voice my answer with confidence. I swallowed thickly before nodding, "I want to do this." She smiled proudly as her hands clasped together at her chest.

"You sure about that?" She asked softly as she leaned a little into me, her belly pressing into mine as I rested my hands on her waist.

"Yeah," I answered this time with more confidence, "It's only for a week, so it's really not that long I'd be gone. I think I can survive just a week.."

"That is very true." She nodded, "You can survive anything."

"Yeah, but-"

"There's always a but.." She grinned lovingly and stared up expectantly.

"But," I repeated with a smirk, "There's no way I'm going to leave you by yourself for an entire week.." I wanted to laugh at the way she rolled her eyes because it's like that was the only drawback to this decision; we had everything planed out except that.

"I'm sure Quinn and Sam will check up on me every two hours and keep you up to date and Kurt will be just as great at slipping me snacks and keeping me fed while I'm at work so I don't have another fall out. Not to mention I've got Jenna who'll do just about anything I ask her to, so I think I'm set." She replied, naming off people with the use of her fingers. "So I'm not really going to be alone.."

"That's not really good enough for me." I shrugged and tightened my arms around her while her brow quirked as she eyed me skeptically before letting out a giggle.

"So _four_ people aren't good enough to substitute you?" She asked questioningly with the same smile still curling at her lips.

"Nope." I smirked as I finally reached an answer that would ease all my worries.

"What?" She laughed when I just continued to stare at her, "You're not thinking of getting me a babysitter, are you?" I laughed along with her and shook my head. "Because the baby's not even here yet so I have no clue _who_ you'd need a babysitter for. It sure as hell isn't going to be for me." She huffed and folded her arms over herself and tilted her head up and away from me.

"Nope, no babysitter.." I replied through a breathy laugh as I reached over to tilt her chin back to me, "Yeah having four people around to check on you for me is nice, but I think I'd feel more comfortable if someone stayed with you..someone like maybe a sister who sounds like she needs a tiny vacation from her jerk of a husband?"

I watched her scowl slowly disappear and turn into an excited grin. The last time we saw Cassie and Mason was around December and it's already March so it seemed like the perfect idea to me! Especially when she said that Cassie was having troubles again with Tony and San was worried about Mason being around that type of environment; it was the perfect thing to do. I'd be set because someone would keep her company at night, Mason would keep San happy with his cute toddler ways, Cassie and San can have sisterly bonding time, and I don't have to worry too much about San because Cassie's a mom and she'd be able to help San with anything!

"Hmm, I can be down with that." San hummed as she let the idea roll around in her head, "I do kinda sorta miss them.." I nodded along happily as she let herself get used to the idea, "And I know how anxious you'd get if it was just me at home."

"I'd be driving myself crazy with anxiousness!" I laughed, "But I'd really be more comfortable with them being here with you..you know, just in case." Her smile faltered and her shoulders slumped a little in defeat. I knew she had beaten herself up about the whole not caring for herself well enough after the hospital incident, like she really came down hard and blamed herself, it was so sad and endless amounts of reassuring her could barely pull her out of all that.

"Right, just in case I'm not capable of taking care of myself and our son." She mumbled and though my heart fluttered at the word _son_ I knew by the sound of her voice I had struck a nerve. "I get it." She started to shrink back into herself and it hurt me to watch her do that, to start doubting herself like that.

"Honey, that's not what I'm saying.." I sighed and pushed off the edge of the counter and closed my arms back around her to keep her from running off. She looked up with such a saddened expression; I just wanted to kick myself for making her feel like that. "Of course you can take care of yourself and our baby, I have no doubt in my mind you can't. I just don't want you to be lonely, you know? We've been together for _almost_ five years and in that time we've never been away from each other for more than a couple days." She stared up at me, her eyes flickering between mine like she was trying to catch on to what I was getting at. I smiled back reassuringly as I threaded my fingers together on the small of her back, "It'll be weird for me but I'll be so preoccupied with choreographing that I won't have all this time to make myself sad thinking about how much I miss you, even though I'll always be missing you in the back of my mind." She snickered a little when I winked at her and slowly the smile came back to her lips, "I know with your shorter work days you'll have a lot more free time than I would and I don't want you to spend that time spiraling into depression because you miss me _so_ much.."

"Oh?" She laughed as she quirked her brow, "And what makes you think I wouldn't be taking all that free time to go out and party hard? Noah would love to hear from me.." I narrowed my eyes at her playfully and shook my head.

"I'm just saying, you'd be happier with Cassie and Mason here to entertain you." I shrugged innocently, "Don't look at it as someone's _babysitting_ you, look at it as bonding time with your sister and nephew. I think they need you more than you know, San. They're dealing with a lot over there and time spent with you is just what they need. You can be really great at giving advice when you want to so how about help them while they're helping you?" She stared back at me as she gnawed on her bottom lip in concentration before finally agreeing with me.

"Well, when you put it _that_ way it makes sense.." She sighed with the roll of her eyes before grinning, "If it'll help you sleep better at night knowing they'll be here _bothering_ me 24/7 then I guess I can do that." Her sarcasm was a good sign that she really was okay with the plan, so I wrapped her up in a big hug and covered her face in kisses before calling up Cassie to make sure that it was okay for her to come for a visit on such a short notice. Turns out she was planning on coming for a visit anyway so everything worked out perfectly. After talking with her briefly, I called back Beyoncé's management team and straightened out all the details. I was surprised that they wanted me to fly over as soon as possible, but after I talked about my situation with San being pregnant and not wanting to leave her along just yet, they gave me a few extra days to organize things at home.

The next day, they booked me a flight that leaves next Thursday which was awesome because Cassie and Mason were scheduled to fly in Wednesday morning so I'll be able to see them for a bit before leaving. I looked over my itinerary while I was on my lunch break, usually I'd go visit San but she was staying home today, and saw that my flight doesn't leave till the late afternoon so I had a full five days to be with San.

I wanted to make sure she was prepared for when I left even though I know she's capable of going grocery shopping alone or going with Cassie, I wanted to pick up a few things myself just in case she forgot to pick them up. For example, those chocolate pudding cups she loves so much! They're on the top shelf at the store so she wouldn't be able to see them and if she did she wouldn't be able to reach it then she'd get really sad when she'd come home to find that we're all out and the whole process would repeat.

The last thing anyone needs to deal with is a hormonal pregnant Santana upset because she's run out of chocolate pudding cups; it's just, I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemies.

I spent the first two of the five days going over things Jeremy needed to handle while I was away as well as run by Mike to tell him what all was going on. Both of them were completely supportive and had no problems with handling things while I was away. After making sure my work was taken care of, I tried my hand at packing for my week long trip.

I realized I hate packing. Nothing ever fits correctly, everything gets wrinkled, I don't know where to put my shoes, I hate folding, everything about it just frustrates me!

Santana found it hilarious though. She sat perched up on the foot of the bed staring down at me lovingly as I sat cross legged on the floor with three open suitcases surrounding me as I tried making a week's worth of sweat pants and dancing shirts fit.

"Maybe if you _folded_ them instead of _balling_ them up they'd fit.." San giggled as she smiled down at me.

"I think I know how to pack a suitcase, San, thanks." I grumbled out of frustration as I crumbled up another top and shoved it in a corner of the over packed suitcase. Of course it didn't fit, nothing was fitting! The suitcase practically coughed it out as the same shirt fell over the side of the black suitcase. I let out a strangled groan and buried my face in my hands. I wasn't anywhere near half way packed and I've already used up two of my five days!

"Alright, I can't watch this train wreck anymore." She laughed and started shuffling around to the edge to the bed then held out her hands," Here, how about _I_ fold the clothes and you can put them in? That way everything will fit and you won't get so frustrated." I looked to the overstuffed suitcase and wanted to cry; San wanted me to fold everything over so that meant dumping out the only suitcase I had packed. "Come on, babe, it'll be quicker." I looked back up at her with her hands out waiting for me and let myself agree to her. I overturned the full suitcase and started passing clothes up to her then put the neatly folded product back into the suitcase.

At some point I ended up moving the suitcase and most of my clothes to the bed that way San didn't have to bend down to hand me things; I could tell she was starting to feel uncomfortable but she wasn't saying it aloud. We finally had two of my three suitcases neatly packed when we started working on the third. I tried focusing on packing, but Santana sitting in bed with her reading glasses perched on the tip of her nose and her dark locks all in a frizzy mess hanging off her shoulders and how sexy she looked in her oversized cotton V-neck and those cute little striped girl boxers she was wearing was starting to get distracting.

Just then she swiped her tongue along her super kissable lips as she kept her eyes lowered on folding a shirt, a few strands of hair falling from behind her ear and curtaining her face. I felt my throat go dry as I continued to watch her move her left hand up to brush it back behind her ear before going back to concentrating on folding. I don't know why such a simple act got my skin warming, but it did and I didn't know how long I could just sit here and stare before actually doing something about it.

Then as if she couldn't get any _more_ cuter, she crinkled up her nose and pushed her reading glasses further up the bridge of her nose then ran her fingers through her hair and let it fall over one shoulder. I sat there longer wondering if other people got turned on by their pregnant wife fixing her glasses but then I remembered that none of them were married to Santana. I'm pretty sure Santana could pick her nose and I'd still get turned on somehow, that's just how much I'm attracted to her.

"Pay attention, B, we're almost done.." San said snapping me out of my hot wife daze when I realized she had been holding out a newly folded pair of sweats to me. I looked down at the few clothes we had left to pack up and shrugged.

"I think we deserve a break." I smirked as I crawled up on my knees and placed my hands on her thighs then leaned in close enough to finally taste her lips.

"We're supposed to be folding.." She mumbled against my lips. I knew she was trying to keep me on task, but the way her lips curled into that little mischievous grin wasn't helping. She was never good at hiding when she wanted me and neither was I.

"That can wait." I husked and pulled the shirt she was folding from her hands and tossed it behind me.

"Britt! Don't make a mess." She chastised but I ignored it and started kissing her jaw. She only protested once more before curling her fingers into the hem of my shirt and tugged it over my head so that I was left in only my pajama shorts and panties; once the pjs come on, the bra comes off.

Now that she's getting more pregnant, we've had to get creative with sex. Sometimes positions she used to love before makes her uncomfortable now, but lucky for her I'm super flexible and I'm happy to do whatever helps to make her comfortable. Lately, she's had to lay on her side because being on her back hurts and being on top makes her dizzy which is fine with me because she loves when I'm in control and I love that I turn her on by being the one in control; it's a win for the both of us!

I was just reached to take her shirt off too when she stopped me and tugged my hands to her waist causing me to drop back down so she could kiss me. It's a diversion I'm well aware of because it happens every time we start to get intimate, she'll either want to keep her shirt on or turn the lights off.

"Baby, you're beautiful." I sighed as I pecked her lips tenderly, "You know you don't have to hide from me." She stared back at me with her brows furrowed and her lips pursued like this scared little girl that wanted to run away. "I love you, San, all parts of you. You'll always be super smokin hot to me, babe."

"Are you sure?" She questioned shyly, her eyes flicking between her hands picking at the hem of her shirt and my eyes. I showed her a toothy grin and leaned in to place a soft kiss to her lips.

"Definitely," I hummed against her full lips and pressed another kiss there, "Let me show you." She was hesitant at first, but a couple more kisses to her cheeks and jaw seemed to convince her. I knew I had to be slow with her though because she's gotten really self conscious about her body over the past couple of weeks and I didn't want to rush her or anything.

We both lay on our sides, my hands running up and down her arm being sure to drag my blunt nails down her skin a little, while our lips moved languidly against each other's. It was a slow process, getting San ready, but I didn't mind because being slow like this really made a difference. Sure we can have super hot spontaneous rough sex but then we can also do the whole slow love making thing too, both were awesome when it's with San.

"You being half naked is intimidating me." She teased as she nibbled on my bottom lip and let her hand run down the valley of my boobs to the edge of my belly button. "I miss my abs."

"Maybe I should get a pregnant belly so we can match?" I smirked and leaned into her touch while my lips left hers and started peppering her neck with kisses.

"Oh no, only _one_ pregnant lady in the house at a time." She giggled as her hand smoothed over my side to rest at the small of my back. I snickered at that and continued my assault, not even noticing that she slipped my thigh between her legs and started to grind against it.

I was so involved in tasting her skin that when I heard her start to moan breathlessly in my ear and her grip on my back tighten I thought it was just because I had gotten _really really_ good at kissing, but then I felt the wetness she was leaving on my skin and smirked.

"Someone's ready." I teased as I pulled away from the crook of her neck and moved my hand to massage at her boobs, careful not to be too rough with them since they are starting to ache a little more as the months progressed.

" _So_ ready." She groaned and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth while trying to still her movements on my leg.

"Can I take this off?" I asked softly as I removed my hands from her chest and smoothed down her belly until I reached the hem of her shirt. She nodded with a soft smile playing at her lips and rolled over a bit so I could pull the shirt off. "You're okay?" I asked when she remained on her back with her hands resting on her stomach.

"Mhm, doesn't hurt right now." She answered with a nod then dragged her hands up the backs of my arms until I was hovering over her and kissed along my jaw while she bent her leg up so that it was positioned between my thighs. We continued to kiss slowly as tongues parted lips and explored.

"How do you want me, baby?" I asked huskily when I noticed her breathing getting more and more ragged. She brought her hand up to cup my cheek while her thumb caressed my skin before she smiled up seductively.

"I want that talented tongue," She rasped and quirked her brow. I grinned devilishly and started to kiss my way down her body and wiggle into position between her legs. I took my time going down, making sure to shower her belly with kisses and run my hands all over, before finally settling in. She scooted back a bit until she was somewhat sitting up against the headboard and pillows while my hands ran up her shins to part her knees. I chanced a peek up at her as I settled in between her legs, my hands making slow circles on her inner thighs, and nearly came undone at the sight.

She already had her head rolled back against the headboard, her bottom lip tugged tight between a set of pearly white teeth, and her eyes all half lidded while her hands curled into the bedspread. Seeing her so turned before I even did anything was such a good feeling because I knew only I could do that to her, no one else but me.

I kissed a trail along her thigh, edging closer and closer to her center, as she started to squirm beneath me. I kept my hands on wrapped around her legs to keep them from shutting, but when I finally dived in and tasted her, her hand reached for mine. She took my right hand with her left and interlaced our fingers before setting them on her chest while I devoured her.

"So good, Britt." She moaned as she peppered my hand she was hanging on to with kisses.

My tongue parted her slick folds, twirling around her sensitive nub, as I reveled in her sweetness. I was careful not to be too rough with her, usually I'm not but sometimes she wants me to be, as I flattened my tongue out on her and slowly licked my way up and down her. With her being extra sensitive now, it doesn't take much time to get her off, so I tried to take my time and draw it out for her. It was a love hate type of relationship there though because I know she loved the feeling but she wanted it to last too, even if that meant bringing her to the jumping off point only to drag her back again.

"This okay?" I asked softly as I peered up at her only to see her brows furrowed in frustration.

"Yeah, keep going." She huffed with her eyes tightly shut. I smirked at seeing her so aroused and dived right back in.

Her grip on my hand tightened and I started to feel her knees quake so I knew her time was coming. I tried my hardest to slow my pace but she was urging me to move faster and, with me only wanting to please her, I did. Within seconds she was screaming my name all while trying to gasp for air. I continued to lap at her though, making sure I didn't miss a drop of her sweetness, but still, I was careful about her being _extra_ sensitive now.

"You're so good at that.." She sighed breathlessly when I pulled away to rest on my elbows and give her a smug grin as I wiped my chin with the back of my hand.

"Yeah, you know it." I teased as my fingers danced along her thighs. She just rolled her eyes at my playfulness then wiggled her finger at me to come up to her. I pressed one last kiss against her center before moving up to hover over her, mindful of the baby and where to place my weight so I wouldn't hurt her.

"Now how do _you_ want me?" She smirked as she tangled her hand into my hair and pulled me down to crash our lips together. Our kisses were slow at first because she was still trying to catch her breath, but I've definitely helped her improve her stamina, even if she's five months pregnant.

"Anyway you want." I hummed against her lips as she brought up her other hand to cup my cheek. It was kind of a lie, I knew _exactly_ how I wanted her, but with her being pregnant, it wasn't possible anymore without the danger of hurting her or the baby. I wasn't really picky though when it came to being pleased because it's _Santana_ , she could just kiss me all night long and I'd be fine, but I knew she wanted to returned the favor. She likes knowing that she's still able to give me the same treatment I give her when it comes to sexy times so I wasn't complaining.

"Lay down, baby." She commanded in a soft voice and let her hands fall from my hair slowly. I nodded and carefully swung my leg over hers so that I could lie down next to her while she turned to her side to face me too. Her finger curled in the waistband of my shorts and tugged at it a little before letting slap against my waist. It was her way of telling me _Why are these on still?_ So I quickly wiggled out of the offending garments all while trying not to chuckle and let her do whatever she wanted with me.

Her hands were always gentle when she touched me, like I was the one who was carrying a baby, but I didn't mind it. It's a nice change to make love rather than playful sex; both are nice though. She leaned forward just a bit to kiss down my neck as her hand started massaging at my chest and nimble fingers played with my nipples. My breathing was already turning labored as she continued to rake her hands over my body so I shuffled closer to her and began running my hand down her side as her lips finally made their way back to mine.

Again our kisses started off slow as her hand ventured lower and lower down my abs until I was unconsciously thrusting up for her hand to touch me where I really wanted to be touched. I felt her smirk against my lips when my hips thrusted forward again and I knew she was enjoying her teasing.

"San.." I whimpered when her fingers dipped lower than before but quickly pulled away to pinch at my hips. "Quit being mean." She let one of the most sexiest giggles I've ever heard escape her lips before deepening our kisses.

"Love you." She grinned between kisses as a sort of apology then finally slipped her fingers through slick folds. I shuddered against her at the feeling of finally being touched, barely able to tell her I love her back, and as she continued to smooth through and circle my clit, our kisses turned sloppy. I was trying my hardest to keep up with her lips but with the way she was dipping her fingers through me really had me distracted.

I was already worked up from getting Santana to scream for me that it didn't take too long for me to tense up too. She had slowed her fingers to just circling my nub while her kisses moved from my lips to my chest. My hips began canting up at her hand while my arms wrapped around her neck, pressing her face closer to my chest.

"Inside, San.." I whined when the coils tightening in my stomach was beginning to get unbearable. My head was spinning already and my eyes were getting harder to keep open as I neared my climax. Her lips latched on to my nipple while two fingers delved in. I let out a choked sigh as my whole body shivered against her. Our bodies were completely flush together, our skin slick with sweat, as I started to rock on her hand.

"Feels good?" She husked as I felt her fingers curling inside of me with each pump.

"Mhm," I hummed because at this point, there was no way I would be able to form words. I was getting closer and closer and San knew it. We've both become experts in knowing when the other is close to the breaking point so the teasing can get mean. Thankfully she didn't tease me too long tonight though. Her pace sped up and my grinding matched her pace and soon my walls clamped down on her digits while my whole body shivered beneath her. She held on to me tightly, pressing her lips softly to my cheeks and lips, while I came down from my high.

"You're so good at that." I mimicked contently as I rolled over on my back.

"Yeah, you know it." San smirked and propped her hand up on her hand as she flattened her hand out on my stomach and dragged her fingers along the contours of my abs. I giggled at hearing her use the same words on me that I used on her earlier before tilting my head to look to her. She smiled back at me dreamily then wiggled her brow, "So, round two?" My only answer was to roll back over on my side and set my hand on her stomach before crashing our lips together again.

After round four we both rolled back over on our backs at the same time, our chests rising and falling quickly as we tried regaining our breath. We laid there for a few minutes in a blissful silence, content in just being in each other's presence. I always loved our post sex daze, San was always so cuddly and adorable, even more than usual. Tonight seemed a little different though.

Once I got back to breathing normally, I turned on my side and rubbed circular patterns on San's belly while she stared up at the ceiling blankly. It was odd because usually she would watch the movements of my hand on her stomach and grin lovingly at me as my fingers danced along her skin.

"You alright there, baby?" I asked when I noticed her lips actually curve into a subtle frown.

"Yeah, I'm alright.." She sighed as she sent me a crooked grin. "I guess I'm just going to miss this." She waved her hand down at us; me resting my cheek on her stomach while my hands rubbed at the sides and I smiled up at her. I knew what she meant; I was going to miss this too. Being away for a whole week when the longest we've ever been away from each other has only been a couple days was really starting to dawn on me. Her hand came up to brush a lock of hair behind my ear then she let her hand linger on my cheek, "I'm going to miss you.."

"I'm going to miss you too." I replied turned my head enough to kiss the palm of her hand. "We've got three more days till I leave though, that's tons of time." I shrugged. "Plus, it'll go by quick with your sister and Mason being here, you'll have so much fun. You won't even notice I'm gone." I tried to seem optimistic because that's my thing when she's letting the rain clouds in to mess with her thoughts. It seemed to work just a little when her frown cracked and the smallest smile made its way to her lips.

"I'll notice when it's night and I'm in bed alone though." She pouted cutely, letting her fingers caress my jaw. I knew she was just teasing me but at the same time it was something that really did bother her.

"Maybe I should just call it off then," I teased as I wiggled up to hover over her, pressing my lips to her forehead, "Beyoncé would understand, right?" She rolled her eyes at that and giggled.

"Oh no, you're most definitely going still." She replied sternly though I couldn't really take her seriously when she's smiling all goofily at me. "I'm just saying I'll miss you at nights," She sighed dramatically, "When I'm all alone," Her bottom lip jutted out and she looked up at me through her thick lashes, "And lonely," She added and slowly licked her lips which instantly got my blood boiling again, "And horny." Her hand dragged down my chest once more as her voice grew low and husky and a little glint of mischief twinkled in her brown eyes.

"So that's the _only_ time you'll miss me?" I whispered, suddenly so turned on again that my voice came out all crackly. "When you want me?"

"Baby, I'll _always_ want you." She smirked then tugged me down to taste my lips.

"Well, I guess I'll just be working a little overtime to make sure you're fully satisfied while I'm away." I winked as she tugged on my bottom lip with her teeth, "Lucky you." My hand ran over her belly and slipped through slick folds again.

"Yeah, lucky me."

The next couple of days were a blur of running around doing last minute errands for while I'm away and tons of sex. When I say tons of sex, I mean, _tons_. We were somewhat warned that with San being in her second trimester she'd need a little more loving than normal, but at the same time we had a very active sex life already, her being pregnant just increased that. I didn't mind it though; I'm always up for pleasing my wife especially when I'll be away for a whole six days without any type of physical contact.

We kept it interesting, though I don't ever think it'll happen, we didn't want to get bored. We tried different positions for her that would be comfortable and she tried new ways with me too. I actually found my new favorite, or for me _most liked,_ while we experimenting one night that's equally as satisfying for me as it is for her. That's always the best when trying new things with San, even with things other than sex, we manage to find new _most liked_.

That afternoon after having a late lunch at Breadstix, we were on our way home to relax for the rest of the day. The morning had been filled with babysitting Bella for a couple hours while Sam and Quinn were at work. Bella was _supposed_ to be in school, but Quinn said she could hang out with us before I left so I guess it really wasn't babysitting. I didn't realize how long it's been since we've seen Bella, our Britt/Bella nights have ended up being once a month now rather than once a week because of how busy San and I have gotten with the SnixxJuice and the pregnancy.

It was still nice though hanging out with Bella. We took her to the park, that's our thing when it comes to Bella, and had a tiny picnic. Usually San and Bella would run off to the swings and she'd wiggle up on San's lap and swing together, but now there's a big pregnant belly in the way. Bella was more than happy to be pushed instead though; she understood that San wasn't able to do some of the things she used to. She even brought her energy level down a bit because she knew San got tired easily now; Bella's a sweet kid like that.

I was able to play though and San sat on the sidelines and watched us laughing every now and then when Bella and I started playing tag. Ever since Quinn signed her up for soccer a couple months ago, with the help of San's encouraging, Bella's gotten fast, like really fast. San would always giggle saying how she knew Bella's wicked kick would come in handy one day. Bella still feels bad though about kicking her that one day.

So after such a tiring day, we finally made it home and flopped down on the couch. We sat for a few minutes just content in each other's company while we watched tv when I remembered my little surprise I got for her this morning when I went out alone. I was a little nervous bringing it up, but she was never too opposing to trying new things.

"This is our last night together.." San sighed as she set her head on my shoulder and curled her arm around my waist and leaned a little into me. I smiled down at her and pressed my lips to her forehead.

"I don't leave for another couple days.." I replied softly and ran my hand over the arm she had wrapped around me.

"This is our last night together _alone_.." She drawled out the last word and I instantly flushed. Cassie's flight comes tomorrow morning and we probably would have to die down on our crazy sex drive a little so we don't make her or Mason feel ignored.

"Oh, right.." I nodded and stared down at her with my eyes narrowed playfully, "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" All she did was quirk her brow at me and smirk.

At some point we ended up in the bedroom with our clothes littering the floor and our bodies pressed close together as our chests rose and fell rhythmically. Sweat was already glistening on her skin as I hovered over her and kissed a line down her neck while she tried regaining her breath.

"Tired yet?" I teased as I kissed along her jaw and kept my hands planted besides her head to keep myself hovering over her.

"Nope!" She smirked then tangled her fingers through my messy hair and pulled me closer to her as she hiked her leg up so her thigh hit me right against my still throbbing core. I shuddered against her, my dominant role faltering as she took control, and let her roll me off of her so that we were lying side by side again. Her hand flattened against my abs while her fingers traced along the contours of my muscles, her blunt nails dragging against my skin so slowly it left goosebumps.

"Ugh, you're going to kill me." I groaned when her hand ventured lower than before and caused my hips to thrust uncontrollably. She smirked and pressed them back down towards the bed before kissing down my chest.

After two more vigorous rounds, we were completely wiped out.

"You think we'll ever get tired of that?" I asked as I turned over to face her and propped my head up on my hand while my other hand fell to her belly.

"Doubt it." She grinned lovingly and placed her hand over top mine, "As long as you look as hot as you do, which would be forever, I don't think I'll ever be able to keep my hands off."

"Likewise." I giggled as she began playing with my fingers. We fell into a peacefully content silence for a few minutes that I almost thought San had fallen asleep, I could tell by the way her chest rose and fell that she didn't though.

"We should start thinking of names.." She sighed in her sleepy voice.

"Hm'kay." I mumbled equally drowsy, "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Mmm," She hummed cutely, "Nope. You?" She turned on her side and burrowed into my neck while her arms attempted to circle my waist.

"I like nicknames.." I replied becoming more awake as San talked. She made some weird mumbling sound and nodded.

"What about Dylan?" She sighed sleepily, "We can call him Dyl for short."

"Yeah.." I hummed, "That makes me think of Rugrats though."

"Mm'grats?" She mumbled questioningly. She must really be in her own world now if she didn't remember Rugrats!

"Yeah, like Dil Pickles? Tommy's baby brother?" I tried and smoothed my hand down her arm that was draped over my waist.

"Mm, pickles.." She muttered happily. I wanted to laugh but decided that I shouldn't because I didn't want to _wake_ her. I ended up just adjusting my pillow before leaning over and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Yeah, babe, pickles.." I teased but she just snuggled up to me further while my free hand laid flat against her belly, feeling the soft nudges of our son saying hi.

The rest of the night went by quickly and soon enough it was the morning and we were waiting patiently at the airport for Cassie and Mason to come walking through the sea of people. San was leaning against one of the pillars in the room, content with nibbling on her beef jerky that she insisted on getting on the way over. I swear, I think it's just being in the car that triggers these sudden cravings because no other time does she insist on pulling over for food.

"Oh Britt, is that them?" San asked as she waved her hand out in the general direction she thought she saw them. I walked the short distance over to her and followed where she was looking. I scanned the crowd but didn't see anyone until Cassie's hand flew up and she waved frantically. "Oh, it _is_ her!" San tugged me by the hand to follow her as she walked towards Cassie who had a small bag slung over her shoulder and a tiny toddler Mason doing his best to walk besides her.

"Hey baby sis!" Cassie squealed and dropped her bag to the floor to wrap her arms around San's shoulders and press a kiss to her cheek while Mason clapped excitedly at seeing our familiar faces. I dropped to my knee and scooped the boy up and squeezed him tightly and placed a sloppy kiss to his giggling face.

"Hi Mas!" I greeted as he hugged my neck. San and Cassie separated so Cassie could give me a hug too while Mason reached his hands out for San to pinch at her cheeks.

"Hey Britt, how are you?" Cassie asked and gave me a friendly hug before reaching down to pick up her carry on.

"Good, good." I nodded and smiled over at San and Mason giggling. "They're cute." Cassie looked over too and laughed too.

"Yeah, they are. You guys ready for it?" She asked as we all started walking towards the baggage claim. I glanced one more time at San interacting with Mas and shrugged.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out." Cassie smiled and patted my shoulder before going over to San to take Mason back when he started getting _too excited_. I really didn't see it because with her version of excited and our version of excited thanks to Bella, he seemed perfectly calm.

Later that night we decided to all go out for dinner as a sort of going away thing for me. It was mostly San's idea because I really wasn't trying to make me leaving for a week into something big because then it'll really start to sink in when the time comes for me to actually go and I don't want to be sad. If I'm sad, I might just call the whole thing off and stay. San wouldn't like that though, well, she _would_ because that meant I'd get to be home with her, but at the same time she'd be pretty bummed about me missing the chance to work with new people.

It was a nice meal though, besides going out with Quinn and the gang for dinner every other week, we don't usually have dinner with anyone. The paparazzi loved snapping all our pictures though as we left the building. Protective San went on high alert though when the crowd started getting rowdy and scared Mason. I kept my arm wrapped firmly around San's waist though to keep her from trying to beat one of those guys with her purse or an umbrella or something.

Once we got in the car and Mason was strapped in securely, his little nose red from his wailing, I apologized for what happened. The last thing I wanted is to go out and have Mason scared because of our crazy lives; we were used to the attention to the point we barely even remembered we were constantly being watched while it was still pretty new for Cassie and Mason. Cassie was really sweet about stopping me from apologizing, saying things like how was I supposed to know they'd scare Mason and how I don't have control over what those guys do.

San on the other hand wanted to go back there and attack for making our nephew cry like that. I'm sure she was having the same Bella flashback I was from back when we took Bella out with us and we had our first big encounter with the reporters. I remember San beating herself up about it for weeks, she was so upset with herself for letting it happen even if she really had no control over it.

After dinner, we went back home and I helped set up Cassie's usual room when she stayed with us while San kept Mason occupied in the living room.

"You want me to set this one down right here?" I asked from under a big purple suitcase.

"Oh yeah, that's fine." Cassie nodded as she loaded up the empty dresser with Mason's clothes. I slowly edged to the foot of the bed and set the suitcase down before dusting off my pants and smoothing out my shirt.

"Need any help with anything?" I offered as I looked around at her luggage.

"Nah, it's okay." She replied after sliding the top drawer of the dresser closed and turned to me. "You should be hanging out with San and Mas." I shrugged because I should, but I really wanted to talk to Cassie alone before I left.

"I will." I answered with a nod, "I just wanted to come talk to you about some stuff really quick though." Cassie eyed me carefully like she was trying to gauge what I was going to talk about then shrugged.

"Alright, lay it on me." She chirped and took a seat at the edge of the bed. I smiled at her because she really was easy to talk to, pretty different from the other Lopez family members who always seem so reserved.

"Well, I just wanted to say thank you for coming here on such short notice. I really appreciate it." I started off, "I know San likes to pretend that she doesn't need help and she can do things on her own, but I don't want her to feel that way. I'm glad you'll be here to watch over her, I don't think she'll be as defensive with people coming in to check on her if it's her own sister so thank you for that too."

"It's no problem, Britt, really." Cassie replied contently, "Like I said, I was already planning on coming for a visit."

"Yeah, I know." I sighed, "It's just, sometimes I really worry about her you know? That's my family in there. We've got a son coming, and I just-I-I don't want anything to happen to that while I'm away. They're my world, Cassie, and if something happens to them..I don't know what I'd do." I started to feel my throat tightening at the thoughts, that same old invisible fist of fears curling its chunky fingers around my neck and squeezing tightly. I tried to ignore the feeling while Cassie stared up at me, "I trust you to look after her for me. Make sure she's doing everything she's supposed to, you know? Keep her safe. I know she can handle herself, but don't let her do that alone. Okay? Don't make her feel like she's being babysat though, she hates that."

"Oh, I know." Cassie smirked, "I used to babysit her back in the day." She laughed then stood up to set her hand on my shoulder, "Britt, you've got nothing to worry about. I was pregnant once, I know exactly what San's going through. I'll keep her on track and everything, both me and Mason will keep her on track. Seriously, Britt, I've got it covered."

"Okay.." I drawled out, slowly shutting my eyes before smiling down at her, "Thanks again for this."

"No problem," Cassie laughed then pulled me in for a friendly hug, "Now go out there and spend time with my sister and your nephew so I can unpack without Mas making a mess." I giggled as Cassie shooed me towards the living room where I spotted Mason and San on the couch.

"And how old are you Mas?" San asked in her cute baby voice. Mason wiggled around a bit on the couch before raising his hand.

"Dis'many." He said proudly as he held up five fingers.

"Oh really?" San asked astonished, "And how many is that?" Mason proceeded to count off his fingers then clapped excitedly when he counted all five. "Wow, you're getting old!" San teased the poked a little at his belly to make him giggle. I watched the encounter in awe, loving the way San was with Mason got me excited for when our little one would get here too. San is going to be such a great mom.

"And look, it's auntie Brittz." San pointed out at me causing Mason to stare up wide eyed. "Go give your auntie Brittz a hug, Mas."

"Hm'kay!" Mason cheered and wiggled his way off the couch to rush over and wrap his chubby arms around my legs. I smiled down at the boy and patted his head as I smiled over at San.

"Thanks for the hug, Mas." I cooed and leaned down to scoop him up in my arms before walking around the couch to sit next to Santana.

"You just get even more handsome every time we see you!" I teased as I set him up on my lap while San leaned her head over on my shoulder. "Right San?"

"Mhm, he's going to be a little heartbreaker." San giggled and pinched at his cheek. He laughed and tried swatting her hand away.

"Not-uh, I'm nice!" He protested, "Not like daddy, I'm good!" That last part made San and I cease up nervously. Mason wasn't supposed to know what's going on with his mom and dad, everyone was careful to keep him sheltered but obviously some things slipped. Thankfully San spoke up before Mason thought he had said something wrong.

"Mason is very good." San nodded encouragingly, "He'll be a gentleman, not a heartbreaker." The big grin appeared on Mason's face again after hearing San say that and he clapped excitedly even if he wasn't sure what a gentleman was just yet.

The rest of the night and the next day were spent with all of us hanging out together and San double checking that I had everything I needed for my trip. She made me print out like four copies of my itinerary just in case I _misplaced_ it, which I wouldn't because I didn't even touch the first copy until now that I was getting ready to leave.

We had a couple bag boys help me carry my bags downstairs while San kept extra close to me. It was cute that she was being so clingy all of a sudden; she barely left my side for longer than a couple minutes. Cassie loved teasing her about it but San didn't care; it was her way of saying she'll miss me but at the same time wanted me to go.

The ride to the airport was eerily quiet. We had taken San's other car, her black SUV, that way Cassie could drive back. San still only let me drive her _baby_ so she wasn't going to change that today just because I was leaving for a bit. I tried to lighten up the mood by playing some Ke$ha, San always laughed when I sang along with her, but today she just smiled sadly. I ended up just changing it to the radio, which was ironically right in the middle of playing Rihanna's Stay, while I let my right hand wander over to reach for her hand. She smiled back softly and placed our hands on her belly while I returned my focus on driving.

Once getting my bags checked in and all that good stuff, we were all upstairs at standing at the opening of my gate where they weren't allowed to go further. I tried not to be sad and I could tell San was trying really hard too, but man, it was so hard!

"Alright come here, Mas, give me a hug." I said cheerfully and dropped to my knees with my arms opened up wide for him to fall in. He wrapped his chubby little arms around my neck then pressed his tiny hands to my cheeks to press sloppy kisses there before letting go.

"I'ma miss you auntie'rittz!" He mumbled and kicked at the floor bashfully before wrapping around his mom's leg.

"I'll miss you too, buddy, I can't wait to come back and play with you though!" I giggled at his cuteness before standing back up and motioning for Cassie to give me a hug too.

"Remember what I said." I whispered when Cassie pulled me in.

"I know, Britt." Cassie mumbled and patted at my back, "Don't worry." I nodded to her and tried to let her words sink in though I knew it's not really possible for me _not_ to worry about San.

Then I reluctantly turned to San. I was hoping all day that she wouldn't cry, knowing her hormones it was a 50/50 chance. If I saw her cry, I don't think I'd be able to leave. Thankfully she wasn't crying though, she just looked like a sad little puppy. We looked to each other, both our smiles faltering as we stared, then sighed.

"C'mere." I muttered through my sad grin and trapped her in my arms. I felt her bury her face into my neck while her hands tightened on the material of my hoodie.

"I said I wasn't going to fucking cry, Britt, I did!" She muttered against my shoulder. "It's the fucking hormones, blame them." I laughed at her angry ranting and pulled away to see her red eyes.

"That's two for the swear jar, missy." I winked and ran my thumbs over the tear tracks. "It's okay to cry though, San."

"I just- I don't want you to rethink this." San sighed guiltily, "Don't mind me..I'm just emotional, the-the baby is emotional today."

"That's cause' he's going to miss me and my beatboxing!" I teased and leaned down to press a kiss to her belly before standing back up and pressing my lips to hers too. "Just like his mama." We shared a soft, love filled, smile as our hands entwined again. "I'll be back before you know it." I reassured and kissed her again and again until she was back to smiling. The announcer called for my flight, breaking us out of our little daze. "Wish me luck?"

"You don't need it." She winked playfully then kissed me one last time before I had to turn away, "Go get'em, tiger."


	6. Chapter 6

"What the actual fuck is this?" I questioned as my arms crossed over my chest and my brows furrowed when I saw what the _head of advertisment_ had been working on all week. _All week_ , as in this is the only thing the department had been working on the whole freaking week! As I stared up at the _finished product_ , I grew frustrated. I tried to think of something happy, Dr. Meyer suggested I do that when I started getting stressed, but every time I glanced up at what they had presented I'd get even more frustrated. "What the hell is that anyway? It looks like a deformed penis." I scoffed as I pointed up at the right corner where some weird shaped animal or space ship or whatever the hell it was supposed to be was pictured. I shook my head at the whole thing and let out an aggravated sigh.

"You said you wanted something modern.." The greasy haired man said nervously as he nudged his wire framed glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, and _this_ ," I said gesturing up at the sorry excuse of an advertisement poster, "is a piece of crap. These colors are all wrong, they don't even match! My five year old nephew can pick a better color scheme than this. You realize what your department creates reflects on me and how I run things, right? Are you purposely trying to make me look like shit? We have a Grammy under our belt; we can't afford to be half assed." I scolded as I waved my hand in the air threateningly and paced the floor in front of him before turning sharply on my heels and set my hands on the arm rests of his chair and glared. "If I find out you're working for another company and you are purposely trying to ruin my label, I will go _all_ Lima Heights on your sorry a-"

"Santana, can I talk to you for a sec?"

I looked over my shoulder with my brow raised with my hands still griping the arm rests. Standing in the doorway was a very displeased Kurt. He had his arms crossed over his ridiculously silky blazar and his foot was actually tapping at the floor in anticipation.

"I'm busy, Hummel." I grumbled and turned back to the quivering man and glared, "I'm dealing with a traitor." The man's eyes went wide and I swear I saw sweat drip down his hairline; it's nice being feared.

"Santana, Phil has worked here longer than you have. I don't think he's a _traitor._ " Kurt sighed as he pushed off the threshold causing me to stand up straight, the slightest twinge of pain hitting me in my lower back for leaning over too long. "In dire need of a shower and some Head and Shoulders, maybe, but certainly not a traitor." I set my hand on my hip while my other rested on my belly as Kurt walked over to me and hooked his arm with mine.

"People change, offers can be made." I huffed and cut my eyes back towards the employee, "And he looks suspicious."

"Alright, you're coming with me." He snapped and hooked his arm with mine before tugging me out of the room and towards my office.

"What the hell, Kurt, you ruined my interrogation!"

He just cut his eyes at me and shook his head before going back to staring straight while he kept a firm grip on my arm as if I would try and escape him. I mean, I probably would but with this bun in the oven, even Kurt would be able to catch up to me and he runs out of breath from just walking up the stairs!

"Alright, inside, now." He commanded as he pressed his hand flat against the door and pushed it open, gesturing for me to go in. I kept my eyes narrowed on him as I followed his orders, wondering when the hell he grew a pair and felt it was okay to boss _me_ around. Sure, he was the one that gave me this job in the first place, but we're partners. No one bosses anyone around.

Unless I want a fucking BLT, he will get that no questions asked or else I'll put the _Snixx_ in SnixxJuice.

He shut the door behind him as I sat down at my desk and looked around to see that Jenna was actually not in the room which was a first. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me; at first with this somewhat menacing look that didn't have me the least bit frightened, but then his shitty attempt at a glower turned to a sad smile.

"What are you looking at, Fancy Pants?" I snapped as shifted in my seat, feeling a little uncomfortable under his watchful eyes, "You wanted to talk, so talk."

He just shook his head at me again, this time laughing a little to himself before coming to sit down in front of me. "So, I take it Brittany left already?"

My movements froze at hearing her name. I've been careful about not having anyone talk about her in front of me, I was still trying to adjust to her being away and I didn't want to become a big, fat, crying mess in front of everyone just because the _baby_ missed his mommy. I could totally handle not being near my wife for six days, it was no biggie, it's the _baby_ who missed her the most.

"Yeah, it'll be an entire 18 hours in 34 minutes.." I answered as I cast my eyes down at my hands resting on my belly. "I'm not counting though, that' s just a guestimation." I shrugged casually as I leaned back in my chair and ran my hands over my stomach.

"Right." He drawled out then dusted off his pants before standing, "I think you're done for the day."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I gasped, "I _just_ got here like an hour ago.."

"Oh, I know." He nodded, "Believe me, I _know_. But you've tried firing four people already!"

"They are incompetent and don't deserve the pleasure of working here." I answered simply but Kurt just shook his head at me again. "You need to stop that, you look like one of those tacky bobble head puppy dogs people have on their dashboards but like..less cute. I'm concerned that your scrawny neck might snap from all that movement." I waved my hand up to his head before attempting to cross my legs.

" _That_ is why I'm sending you home, Santana." He sighed, "You're taking out your sadness on me and our employees, it's unprofessional." Suddenly I felt really bad about being so mean, which was strange because I never feel bad about that type of stuff. Kurt must've noticed my demeanor falter because he came to sit back down and leaned his elbows on my desk, inching closer to me.

"Hey, hey, back it up Dr. Phil, don't think I don't know where this is going." I scoffed as I tried leaning away but I was already as far back as I could be. His smile softened as he reached out to touch the back of my hand.

"I know it's really hard for you to pretend that you don't miss Brittany, but it's okay to miss her. Everyone, even Britt I'm sure, knows you miss her dearly and pretending that you don't or doing this extra bitchy act won't fool anyone into thinking something different. You can miss her, San, it's okay. You aren't going to make her feel guilty about leaving." He sighed, his voice dropping into that creepily comforting one. Not as comforting as Brittany's voice, which I really really wanted to hear right about now, but it was nice. It was really nice; Kurt is such a fucking sweetheart! Why did he have to say such nice things to me? Why can't he just scold me and put me in time out? Not this heartfelt conversation that basically calls me out on my shit. And look at the concern in his eyes! God, why is he looking at me like that? "Oh honey, don't cry. It'll be fine."

Before I could even say anything, I was scrambling around the desk to throw my arms around him. I tightened my arms around his shoulders and buried my face in his chest as the tears fell freely. He was a little less soft and cuddly like Britt, but the height was close to the same so where I placed my ear ended up being in the general area of his heart. It wasn't the same calming rhythm I was so used to and that made my heart ache even more. He brought his arms up and patted at my back as he made hushing sounds and started to rock me from side to side.

Then I thought how Britt used to do that and got even sadder. What the hell is going on with me?!

"Wow, hormonal San is just like drunk San." Kurt teases as I started muttering about how silky his blazer was and started rubbing my cheek against it. "I can handle this." It seemed as though my sudden spurt of crazy, mood swings sound kind of drastic, was over so I patted at his chest and stepped back trying to regain my composure. "Feel better?" He asked and ducked his head a little to find my eyes that I had averted to the floor.

"Yeah, a little." I admitted and ran my hands under my belly and felt the little nudge against my fingertips. "I guess I didn't realize how much I'd miss her, you know?" I sighed as I let my mind wander, "Actually, I knew this was how it was going to be especially since it's the first time. I just had to hold back until she was gone because if she would've seen how sad I'd be, she would've stayed. You know she would've. That's how she is, Kurt, that's how she has always been. She'd put all her feelings and wants and desires aside for me and what _I_ want." Kurt parted his lips to protest but ended up staying quiet; he knew I was right. "For once, I wanted to be able to give her the same treatment but I'm failing miserably."

"San, you're doing fine." Kurt reassured, "It's only been a day-"

"No, not yet, we have 6 more hours."

"Well, almost a day." Kurt corrected himself, "You two have been through a lot more than this so take a deep breath, go home, hang out with your sister and nephew, eat a nice dinner, then go have some nice relaxing phone sex with your wife and come back tomorrow." My eyes bugged out at the second to last suggestion Kurt made but I chose to not argue him on that because that was highly likely.

"Alright, I guess.." I sighed and started gathering my things.

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow then." Kurt cheered and hopped up to leave.

"Oh wait," I called just as his hand reached the door. He spun around and raised his brows. "Could you possibly call my sister for me? Britt doesn't want me driving by myself while she's away, actually at all, so Cassie dropped me off but if I call it might give her the wrong idea." Kurt smiled and nodded as he pulled out his phone. "Just, don't mention my little-you know-breakdown. She'd tell Britt and I don't want her to hear about that type of stuff. Just tell her I was like being bad or something."

"Being bad?" He snickered as he scrolled through his contacts, "What am I running here? A preschool?" I rolled my eyes at him and gestured for him to make the call already. He laughed again and started the call.

About a half an hour later, Cassie waltzed in to my office with Mason clinging tightly to her hand. She took one look at me and smiled softly before coming over to give me a hug. I guess there are some things a sister can figure out without being helped, and knowing that I had been bawling just before she came to pick me up was one of them.

"Auntie Tana, look what that lady gave me!" Mason shrieked happily as he tugged at the hem of my knee length skirt. I peered down but my belly was sort of in the way. I think he noticed he wasn't being seen fully because he took a step to the left and held up his hand to me. "A cookie!"

"Oh yeah, Tina gave it to him when we walked in." Cassie explained as she brushed through his hair with her fingers. I looked to her and nodded before looking down at how excited Mason was.

"What a lucky boy you are, she never gives _me_ any cookies." I teased but his smile faltered as he looked down at the cookie in his hands. To my surprise, he broke the cookie in half and held it up to me.

"We can share it then! Mama says good boys share and I'm good." He cheered as the smile returned to his chubby cheeks. It was such a sweet gesture and he looked so adorable in his little leather jacket and jeans that I couldn't help but let the tears well up in my eyes. He is such a good little boy and so polite and charming and ugh. "Oh..we don't have to share, Auntie Tana, you can have it all." He pouted and held up both hands to me showing that he'd give up both halves of his cookie. I couldn't stop the tears from falling from all his cuteness overload. He stared up at me with worried eyes then looked back over to Cassie before running over to hide behind her legs. "I didn't mean'a make her cry, mama, m'sorry!" Then my heart broke at seeing him start to cry because he thought he had upset me.

With one swift motion, Cassie scooped Mas up in her arms and set him on her hip then opened up her other arm to pull me into a hug.

"Well, this is going to be fun." She teased as she tried to comfort the both of us at the same time. The tears stopped when she mentioned getting banana splits, I'm sure Britt gave her the heads up saying that those will always bring me out of my moods. After saying my goodbyes to everyone, which Jenna reminded me that I didn't normally do, we were getting buckled up and heading towards the diner where I used to find Britt and Bella at when we first started talking.

Surprisingly, I didn't get emotional when we walked in and the nostalgia hit me. I didn't even cry when the host walked us toward the very booth Britt and Bella shared all those years ago. I was actually more concerned about the extremely slow pace of our waiter and getting us these splits!

"I swear, Cas, if my ice cream is even the slightest bit melted," I started when I eyed one of the other waiters walking passed then directed my scowl on my sister seated in front of me, "I _will_ go off."

"Oh stop, no you won't." Cassie laughed and passed Mas a crayon that had rolled down the table so he could continue coloring. I was just about to argue that when I felt like someone just kicked me in my spleen or something. I sucked in a quick breath and bit down on my bottom lip to keep from whining too loud. Cassie saw it though and ducked down to make sure I was alright.

"Yeah, I'm good." I nodded, squirming around in my seat to get comfortable, "Little one decided he wanted to try out tap dancing I guess."

"Oh, definitely know what you mean." Cas smiled then nodded over to Mason who was silently coloring, "The kid wouldn't quit moving around, my sleeping patterns were ruined. I'm surprised he's not a ball of energy for someone who was always so active in there." I nodded to that, Mason _is_ a pretty calm kid for his age but I guess Cassie is just lucky like that.

Exactly two minutes later our waiter came by with our banana splits and after a close inspection to make sure nothing was melted, I inhaled that thing in record time. I didn't realize I was hungry until now, but Cas made me slow down because I was _encouraging_ Mason to eat fast too or something and she wasn't trying to deal with two brain freezes. We sat for a bit and chatted about what we were going to have for dinner later and decided if we need to go grocery shopping on our way home instead of heading back out later. Knowing Brittany though, I'm sure the house is _stocked_ with about everything you could ever want, so we ended up going straight home instead.

While we were sitting in the car, my phone vibrated against my thigh, jolting me out of my trance on the city buildings that we drove past.

_Britt-Britt: this is so weird..its like ur in the future nd Im in the past. Tell me what I'm eating for lunch_

I found myself smiling at the text; I remember before she left we were talking about the three hour time difference and the 15 minute debate over time traveling that followed. We never did come to an agreement either. Shaking off the dopy grin that formed on my lips, I began to type.

_Sanny: ur silly, what time did u get there?_

_Britt-Britt: I think 2 but the time diff is rlly messin me up!_

_Sanny: wait, 2 in the morning?_

_Britt-Britt: Yup..thunderstorms held us up in philly..3 hour delay. I tried to call u but I think u were sleepin._

I don't know why, but for some reason I was really angry that her flight got delayed. Damn that weather for making my wife sit all by her lonesome in a creepy airport on those uncomfortable plastic chairs for _three whole hours_. Did it _really_ have to thunderstorm? Couldn't that wait till like-I don't know-after her flight? But before I could really go into my mental rant, my phone lit up again signaling another text.

_Britt-Britt: Dont worry, they gave me free dinner..it wasnt as gud as ur cookin but it was ok ( ;_

I felt the heat covering my skin caused by anger slowly turn to a blush as she complimented me; even miles away she was still able to do that to make my cheeks flush from the simplest things. I rested back in my seat, ignoring the curious side glances from Cassie as I continued to text Britt about how she was liking California so far.

Once we got home, I told her that I'd call her in a little bit because I needed to help Cassie navigate our well stocked kitchen so we could get started on cooking. Britt said she'd be waiting; she didn't have to be at the studio for another few hours so she was going to try and get her room situated. In the meantime, I set up the living room so that Mas could watch cartoons or play with his beloved legos while I showed Cassie where everything was in the kitchen.

"You know, Tana, you don't have to watch me..I'm not going to burn down the place." Cas teased as I tried to help her get out the ingredients for dinner and set up the pots and pans on the stove.

"I know that," I laughed, "I'm just trying to help." I was up on my tippy toes trying to grab for a unopened box of aluminum foil that I swear was within reaching distance six months ago. I picked up a box of spaghetti noodles to use to move the aluminum foil box closer but ended up knocking over a bag of flour and out came a puff of white smoke.

"Yeah, okay, how about you help me by sitting down over there? Away from all the flour.." Cassie grinned and shooed me out of my own panty before tossing me a damp towel to wipe the flour off of me. I rolled my eyes and made my way over to the dining table and sat at the chair near the wall so I was able to see Mason in the living room as well as Cas in the kitchen. "Here, you can do the beans." She added and set a bowl of fresh green beans in front of me. I sighed and started snapping off the ends while she moved around the kitchen in a whirl; maybe it was better that I was sitting out here, I doubt there was enough room for the both of us with the way she was busying herself in there.

"Auntie Tana!" Mas cried as he padded over to me with some weird looking object in his hands. He climbed his way up on the chair next to me and set the object on the table and clapped, "Look what I made, it's cool right?" I had no idea what it was, maybe some sort of lego dinosaur or possibly a dog, but his cheek bunching grin was so infectious that I found myself smiling and nodding.

"That is very cool, Mas!" I replied and leaned over to press a kiss to the top of his head before he ran into the kitchen to show his mom what he made too. I watched lovingly as the pair interacted and Cassie praised her son on how creative he was before he ran back out into the living room to continue building.

I went on snapping the green beans while Cassie hummed along with the kitchen radio in the background as my thoughts started churning. I thought about how I haven't been around many guys; I grew up with a sister, I didn't have many guy friends aside from Kurt and Noah and Sam, most of my cousins are girls, and my dad well you know how that goes. Now Britt and I have a son on the way, and neither of us know anything about raising a boy.

"Uhh, you've already snapped all the beans.." Cassie said softly as she walked over and slowly pulled the green bean I had between my hands and kept me from snapping that in half like I had been doing for the last handful. I looked down at my mess and shook my head trying to block out the thoughts of me possibly failing as a mother.

Cassie, of course, seemed to notice my weirdness and pulled up a seat next to me and brought her chin to rest on her hands. I tried not to look at her because thinking such negative thoughts like I had been is embarrassing, so I focused on cleaning up my mess. Knowing Cassie though, I knew she wasn't going to let it slide.

"Go on, sis, tell me what's going on." Cas encouraged, ducking her head down a bit.

"It's nothing," I shrugged casually, "My hormones are messing with me again; don't you have to finish cooking or something?"

"Already in the oven." Cassie answered simply, "And these beans will cook pretty fast so they can wait." I just nodded and stared over at Mas playing happily trying to let the image of him being so content sink in my brain and kick out the other crappy stuff I was thinking. "I get it, if you don't want to talk I won't push you to but know that I'm your sister and you can talk to me about whatever." She smiled to me reassuringly then patted my hand before moving to stand up.

"Wait, Cas.." I blurted as she started heading towards the living room. She walked back to me and sat down at the closest chair. I sat there fiddling with my hands and kept my eyes lowered. You'd think that from living with Britt and how open she is with talking about feelings I would've gotten better at it too, but I still had trouble. Cas had always been patient with me though, even when we were younger and I was a independent little brat. I tried remembering how Britt would start off when we talked about things that bothered us, but then I just started feeling frustrated because of how easy it was for her. Slowly, I took a deep breath to calm myself down then said whatever came to mind first.

"I'm scared.."

I was a little taken aback with that actually being the first thing to fall out of my mouth because it's extremely rare for me to ever admit that I'm scared. Cassie didn't tease me with that though, she just nodded encouragingly and stared at me with softening eyes.

"I'm scared that I won't be a good mom to him," I added as I set my hands on my stomach, "I have no idea how to raise a boy and I don't think Britt knows either, but she at least has _some_ type of experience when she helped raise Bella. We both grew up with sisters and we don't have many guy friends that could be positive male role models. I mean, how is he going to learn what it means to be a man or whatever when-" I couldn't even breathe because I was sobbing so hard. I buried my face in my hands and let the tears pool in my palms. I didn't realize how upset talking about this would make me, but I guess it felt good to get it out. I did feel bad that Britt wasn't here to listen to my fears, but I'm glad Cassie was around anyway. "-when he'll grow up with two moms. He won't have a dad, he won't have someone to talk about boy stuff with when Britt and I don't understand or don't know how to help. I-I want to be a good mom, Cas.." At that moment in time, I really missed Brittany. I wished she was here with her comforting words and her warm hugs and soft kisses of reassurance.

"Tana, come here." Cas sighed and pulled me over to her in hug as she let my cry into her shoulder. It was no Britt-Britt hug, but sisterly hugs always had a different type of special effect. "You and Britt will be amazing mothers, you hear me? This boy will be spoiled rotten with love and that's all that matters. You don't see it now, but you have tons of guys that will be around to help if you need them to though I doubt you'll need it. I know Noah can be a little crazy sometimes and yes I was totally against the idea of you and him being roommates back in the day, but he's a good guy and so is Sam and even Kurt. I don't think anyone knows exactly how to raise a kid, you just learn as you go. You know? Just look at Mason." I picked my head up and glanced over at the toddler now lying on his stomach watching Monster's Inc. "You think I automatically knew how to raise a kid? Hell no!" She laughed causing me to smile, "I went through the exact same thing you are now, minus the two moms thing, and I know what you mean. But in a way, you should be glad that you're having this child with the woman you love who you know would never abandon you.." I watched as her eyes glazed over but then she closed them tight and swallowed back the lump that was probably forming in her throat, "You're starting a family with the love of your life and what makes it great is that you won't be alone in this; if you feel like you're lost, she'll be there to be lost with you. Tana, you've got a good deal set up for you. You see that?" She said as she passed me some napkins to wipe my eyes, "A boy doesn't need to be raised by a man to learn how to be one, okay? "I stared at her as a smile started to tug on the corners of my lips. But at the same time I felt my insides churn because it felt like she was talking from experience. I wanted to ask her what she meant by that because she's always so adamant about Tony being a good dad, but I resisted. I think that talk is for another time. We shared a silent _thank you_ before she got up to check on Mason leaving me with all her words of wisdom.

A couple hours later, I start getting ready for bed, even though it's only 9, when I realize I forgot to call Britt back after eating dinner. I wiggled into some baggy polka dotted pajama pants and rummage for Britt's NYU sweatshirt, which I have no idea why she has that because she didn't even go there, before crawling into bed. I never realized how huge our bed was until I didn't have to share with anyone and the thought that Britt wasn't a couple feet away brushing her teeth in the bathroom made it even worse. Last night was really the first night I slept in bed alone, but I didn't have time to dwell on it since I was so worn out. Tonight, after being such an emotional wreck all day, I could definitely feel it. I tried my hardest to get comfortable, rearranging the pillows and what not, before dialing her number.

The ringing echoed in my ear and seemed to cause my heart to race. Though we've been texting throughout the day, we didn't really have time to call so this would be the first time I'd heard her voice in what felt like days. I felt our little babycake squirming around with excitement too and after the third ring everything in the world seemed right again.

" _Hey baby, I was just going to call you!_ " Britt's cheery voice graced my ear. It was like my shoulders slumped and my body relaxed at just hearing the sound. Even the baby stopped bouncing around, only for a second though, the kid is active as hell!

"Beat you to it." I grinned bashfully as my hand moved up to rest on my belly while the other held the phone, "Sorry I didn't call you sooner, I forgot.."

" _Oh, that's alright. I just assumed you went to sleep already, you get sleepy after you eat._ "

"I do, don't I?" I giggled, "How's LA so far? Did you get to explore or have you been unpacking all day?"

" _I mostly stayed in, you know how I hate going places alone because I get lost so easily. They assigned me an 'assistant' for while I'm here though; she's-uhm-nice?_ "

" _She_ , huh?" I teased but I already heard Britt scoffing at that.

" _You definitely don't have to worry about her, she's old and married and kind of wrinkly. No thanks."_ I found myself laughing as Britt went on to tell me how upset she is that they assigned her someone who is almost 20 years older than her to show her around. I was so happy that we were at that stage in our relationship that we were able to joke about cheating because we both knew neither of us would ever even think about doing it. She went on to talk about how she ended up wanting to go back to her hotel to finish unpacking because the woman was actually making it seem like LA was boring and she didn't want to get the wrong impression.

" _Like really, San, she reminds me of Mary Poppins! It's weird, I'm gunna take a picture of her next time. She wanted to take me to see this one beach or was it a statue? I can't remember, she's got some strange accent, but it was something important, but I told her I'd wait to see it with you because we are SO totally coming back here one day."_

"Awh, you did?" I cooed, "That's so sweet, babe, waiting for me and all that." Britt just laughed and the sound made me want to cry and smile all at the same time. Damn, I missed her.

_"Of course, you know me, I'm awesome like that. Oh, I'm gunna try to take that picture later, Margret, that's her name, is coming to take me back to my hotel around 9."_

"Alright, B, since you really really want me to see what this lady looks like.." I grinned, I swear she can be such a goof sometimes, "You're notin your room now?"

" _Nope, I'm actually at the studio now. It's so nice here, it's huge, not as cool as SnixxJuice's though of course. But yeah, they've been showing me around for most of the time, I'm about to meet the dancers I'll be working with for the week in a few minutes so I don't have much longer to talk. I mean, I'm like their boss for the week so I can do whatever I want when it comes to them, but I want to be polite and introduce myself so they know I'm not a jerk._ "

"And that's why Beyonce wants to work with you, babe, you're so fucking adorable with your talk about making good impressions. Everyone there is going to love you, I can already tell."

" _That's one for the swear jar, Potty Mouth._ " Britt chuckled, " _I made sure Cassie was watching you, she better be keeping her word though! I don't want our son coming out talking like a sailor. Anyways, I don't think I'll be doing any dancing today, just getting acquainted with everyone. Enough about my work though, how are you doing? How's our little babycake?_ "

"I'm doing fine, better if you were here, but I'm fine." I sighed, "Kurt sent me home earlier because I was _emotionally unstable_ but really he's just made because I was on a firing spree. Cassie and I talked, not about you know what, I don't think she's ready to talk about it yet, but it was a nice conversation anyway. Our boy on the other hand, I swear Britt, he's got beef against my insides or he's practicing to become a boxer because it's like the kid is using my guts as a punching bag."

" _Awh, I'm sorry honey, I wish I was there to make it feel better..maybe that's how he shows you that he loves you?"_

"Well if that's him saying he loves me, I'm a little nervous to see what it's like when he hates me."

" _He would never hate you so you'll never see that."_ She answered simply, " _But hey, the dancers are starting to come in now so I've got to go. I love you tons and I miss you a bunch, I'll call you in the morning okay? Goodnight, babe."_

"I love and miss you lots too, good luck!" And with that I hung up and let my head fall back against the pillows. I thought that finally hearing Britt's voice after 84 years would've made me a little happier, but it actually made me really sad. On top of me missing my wife a thousand times more, I couldn't for the life of me fall asleep. I tossed and turned and tried sticking pillows under my belly or something, but nothing worked. I never realized how awesome of a pillow Britt made.

After my last attempt to fall asleep failed, I decided I might as well get up and go eat something because eating always makes me sleepy. As I neared the door of my bedroom, I heard the tv still going in the living room then saw Cassie with Mason asleep on her lap.

"Hey sis, can't sleep?" She whispered as I plopped down on the other couch with a chocolate pudding cup in one hand and a spoon in the other.

"Yeah, something like that." I sighed as I dipped my spoon in for a scoop of deliciousness. "Shouldn't you be putting him to bed now? He looks wiped out.." I watched as she brushed through his hair and shook her head.

"He's not in a deep deep sleep yet and if I move him now, he'll just get back up." Cassie replied.

"Does that happen a lot?" I questioned after licking my spoon clean for another scoop.

"It used to, but it stopped for a few months but it started up again after Tony and I started.. fighting more." She seemed so ashamed to say it and I wished that I could say something to make her feel like she could talk to me without feeling like that, but I didn't know what.

"Oh, well..he's a good boy." I answered after a short pause of not knowing something comforting to say, "You did a great job raising him."

"Thanks." She answered shortly as she kept her eyes on her son sleeping in her lap. I nodded and let my eyes drift back to the tv screen trying to get lost in the tv show, but couldn't because my mind kept drifting back to Cassie.

"You know, Cas, you can talk to me about stuff that's bothering you too. I might not really have the right words to say at the time, but I can listen when you need me to. You're my sister, I'm here for you." Cassie looked over at me, her usual cheery face taken over by how drowsy she was or maybe how tired she was from fighting, then nodded after giving me a weak smile. I waited to see if she'd talk but after five minutes of waiting, I gave up. If she wasn't ready to talk, I wasn't going to pry. So instead we sat there in a comfortable silence while I ate the rest of my pudding. About 20 minutes later, Cassie gingerly picked Mason up and announced that she was going to take him to bed so I got up too and headed back to my room to try and go to sleep.

I wiggled back under the covers and tried rearranging the pillows to form the general shape of Britt's body, but it didn't really work since there weren't any arm or leg shaped pillows to use. I sank back against the fluff and pulled the comforter over my shoulders as I lie on my side. I thought briefly if I should check my emails or something on my phone, maybe that'll help me fall asleep, but my decision was made for me as my phone began to ring. I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was already midnight so Britt must've just finished for the day. Pulling my left hand out of the warmth of the blankets, I reached for my phone and swiped to answer.

" _Santana Pierce-Lopez._ " I heard her snicker in a voice that she tried to make sound a lot like mine. I felt myself quirking my brows at that, confused as to why she greeted me like that. " _Wait, where's the beep?_ " Her voice sounded normal and far away this time.

"Britt?" I asked skeptically, "Are you trying to mimic my answering machine?"

" _San?_ " She answered equally confused.

"Uhm, yes?"

" _Oh..that was weird. I was trying to leave you a voicemail.."_ She replied sounding a little bummed, " _Wait, it's after 12 over there why are you awake?"_

"I don't even know, B, I've been trying to fall asleep since I last talked to you but my eyes just won't close. It fu-freaking sucks." I groaned and rolled on to my back as I kept the phone to my ear hearing the sweet sounds of her laughter carry through the line. "Plus I can't get comfortable, like this bed sucks but I know it doesn't because I thought this was the best bed yesterday."

" _Hmm, I have an idea. I'll call you in like 5 minutes, I'm almost back to my room."_

"Alright, I'll be here." I replied and let her hang up. Not even a whole 5 minutes later my phone was buzzing again. "That was fast."

" _You know I'm bad at judging time._ " She teased, " _So you're having trouble sleeping? Well, I just happen to know exactly what gets you sleepy._ "

"Sex?"

" _Well yeah, that too, but nope."_ Britt answered sounding like she was trying to keep from laughing, " _I remember a long time ago a certain super smokin' hot Latina had trouble falling asleep so she'd call me and ask to tell her stories until she fell asleep."_ I found myself smiling bashfully up at the ceiling. " _So..who wants to hear about my first day working with Beyonce's dancers?"_

I turned my phone on speaker, I wasn't afraid of it being too loud that Cassie would hear since their room was on the other side of the apartment, and cuddled up against the pillow as Britt went on to tell me about her day. It was almost like she was lying right next to me except I was missing the smell of her shampoo and the warmth of her arms around me, but if this was as close as it gets, I didn't mind it. As she went on talking, I found myself growing drowsier by the second then within minutes I was nodding in and out of consciousness.

" _Still there?"_

"Mhmm…"

" _You want me to hang up so you can sleep?"_

"Mm-mm.."

" _Okay.."_

Then she started up with another story about all the different dancers' personalities and who she thought I would like and who I wouldn't. A few more minutes went by and this time I was in such a light sleep that when she asked me again if I was still there, I couldn't bring myself to answer properly.

" _Oh, we're getting close because now you're not even mumbling at me anymore."_ She snickered, " _You're sleepy talk is very cute though, babe._ " I don't know how long she talked for but soon I was just content in letting her voice carry me into an even deeper sleep. I wasn't sure what she was saying anymore, all I could hear was that she was talking. Then she must've said something that made herself laugh, she's a goofball who laughs at her own jokes sometimes, and I found myself grumbling something that only Britt was able to decipher. " _I know, honey, and I miss you too like so much it's hella cray. That's what they say here, hella this and hella that. Oh man, does that count as a swear word? I don't think so.. anyways, I'm gunna let you sleep now since I'm pretty sure you're knocked out by now. I'm starting to get really sad now because I so wish I was falling asleep with you instead of these not-so-fluffy pillows, but I'll be home to you soon. I love you, San, goodnight."_


	7. Chapter 7

_Couple Days Later;_

"Aunt Tana?"

"Mhmm?"

"Uhm.." Mason hummed like he was trying to decide the best way of saying whatever it was he was trying to say. I've noticed he _really_ thinks before he speaks, sometimes he thinks about it too long and he straight up forgets what he was going to say and just goes back to playing. It's kind of cute.

He drawls out another _uhm_ as he climbs up next to me on the couch then settles on his knees and cocks his head at me then at my belly then back up at me.

"What've you got hidin' in there?" He asked as he placed his hands on his knees and stares up at me. I wanted to laugh at how cute he was being, but decided I probably shouldn't since he might think I'm laughing _at_ him rather than at how adorable he is. I've noticed he's a pretty sensitive kid too, he's very careful of everyone's feelings for someone as young as he is.

"I'm not _hiding_ anything, that's my stomach." I replied through a smile and ruffle his dark brown hair. "See?" I rolled up the bottom hem of my shirt revealing my skin then looked up to see him still looking at it in confusion.

"But why's it so _round_? Mommy's isn't like that." He stated as he did a signature Lopez eyebrow quirk. His lips pursed before he looked down at my belly again but this time with his eyes squint.

"Well, it's because I'm pregnant." I answered softly then rolled my shirt back over the top of my stomach, "There's a baby growing in there." He perked up quickly and stared back up at me with wide, amazed, eyes.

"Nuh-uhh.." He gasped cutely with his jaw dropped a bit. I nodded in response, trying to keep from pinching his chubby cheeks. "Get them outta there!" He bounced excitedly with one of the biggest grins I'd ever seen plastered on his face.

"I can't just yet, Mas, they're not done growing." I chuckled and watched as he slowly stopped bouncing and started to pout again.

"But I wanna say hi to her.." He mumbled sadly and stared squeezing at his knees nervously.

" _She_ is actually a _he_." I grinned but he looked up at me like he didn't understand what I was trying to say. I picked up my hand that I had resting on my stomach and pointed a finger down at my belly button. "The baby 's a boy, just like you." He tilted his head to the side then formed his lips in an 'o' shape. "You can still say hi if you want to though, come here." I opened up my arm and gestured for him to scoot in closer to me so that his side was slightly pressed into mine. "Let me see your hands." I said softly and held out my own until he laid his gently down into mine. I placed them on my belly and moved them around to wear the baby was currently kicking and watched as his eyes grew wide once again.

"It feels funny." He giggled and sprawled out his fingers so he could feel all the movements against his tiny palms.

"It does, huh?" I smirked and listened to his innocent ramblings about how he and the baby will have so much fun when he gets here and how he'll be the best cousin ever. It was such a cute thing to watch and it really made me wish Britt was here to witness too.

"You _sure_ he can't come out now?" Mas asked skeptically a few minutes later. "I think he wants to play.." I was just about to answer him when Cassie came from around the couch with a plate of fresh baked cookies in her hands and a smirk curling on her lips.

"I think Auntie Britt would be pretty sad if baby boy decided to come out and play when she's not here yet, Mas." She said as she placed the plate on the coffee table and sat on the other side of Mason.

"Mhm, she's right. Auntie Britt would be so sad she missed it." I nodded along with Cassie. The boy pouted again but the sadness was soon forgotten when his mom handed him a chocolate chip cookie.

"How are you feeling, Tana?" She asked as she handed me a cookie next. "Still have a headache?"

"Mm, it's there but it's not pounding like earlier." I sighed as I took a bite of the cookie, "It's a freaking miracle.." For the past couple of days my sleeping pattern has been so off it's ridiculous, I have no idea if it's because I'm just so uncomfortable when I'm trying to go to sleep or if it's that I _can't_ fall asleep. Britt tries calling me at night to help, but even that is only good for initially putting me to sleep. After an hour or so I'm back up again, tossing and turning, it's complete hell.

"I'm thinking it's a combination of your lack of sleep and your low blood sugar levels. They can play off each other, you know, but the cookies will help with your blood sugar." She answered simply and started to stand, "I'll get you some warm milk too, that'll help you fall asleep."

"I can get it, sis, sit down." I instructed but she just waved me off and turned to Mason.

"Want some milk, baby?" She asked and Mas bobbed his head enthusiastically. She smiled then walked off to the kitchen. A minute later she was handing out glasses of milk and sitting back down on the couch with Mason and I.

"Thanks." I smiled as I was handed the warm cup, "So I got a call from Quinn on my lunch break today, she wants us all to meet up for lunch tomorrow. She's bringing Bella but I think Sam is working, wanna go?"

"Yeah, sure! You'll be off by then?" She asked after taking a sip from her glass.

"Mhm, I'm sure Kurt won't have a problem with me leaving super early." I shrugged, "Actually, I'm sure he'll pack my things and carry me there, he's _that_ enthusiastic about me leaving work early." Cassie laughed at that, the past couple of days have been nothing but Kurt, Cassie, and I arguing over my _unusual methods of punishing the slackers_. Well mostly it's just me and Kurt arguing, Cassie usually plays the role of a mediator. At first I was just being my normal self when I made Sean from marketing color coordinate all our highlighters, not my fault he thought writing all his notes in red ink was appropriate, but then when I saw how peeved Kurt got I decided to keep it going. Nothing like thinking up new ways of punishment to keep my creative juices flowing, you know?

Cassie just laughed and shook her head as she brushed her fingers through Mason's hair. We chatted idly during commercial breaks of whatever tv show we were watching, but the topic of Cassie's home life never came up. Even when Mason was taking a nap or something, she still wasn't comfortable talking about it. I never pushed her to though, I would just casually bring it up but as soon as she was on to me she shut down completely.

I've always had a hard time finding similarities between my sister and I because for so long I've thought that we're such opposites, but when I saw her shutting me out when I tried to get to the bottom of what's been bothering her, I finally found something we have in common. We push people away, especially the ones that want to help us the most.

_You are always trying to keep it real_

_I'm in love with how you feel_

_I don't see what anyone can see_

_In anyone else but you  
We both have shiny happy fits of rage_

_You want more fans, I want more stage_

_I don't see what anyone can see_

_In anyone else but you_

I was jolted out of my thoughts when my phone began ringing where it rested on the arm of the couch. Cassie looked to me with her brow quirked and looked as if she was about to laugh.

"Brittany." I grinned, "She assigned the song for her whenever she calls me, don't judge."

"Ohh, I see." Cassie laughed as I picked up the phone and swiped to answer.

"Hey, B!" I greeted as I wedged the phone between my shoulder and ear.

" _Hi honey, whatcha doing?_ "

"Oh nothing, just watching some tv and eating cookies with Cas and Mas."

" _Ha, that rhymed._ " She giggled in response, " _Tell them I said 'hi'!"_

"Britt says 'hi'." I parroted and they both sent their greetings as well.

" _How's your back? Still sore?"_

"Oh God, yes. I think I'm actually going to go look at new beds or something or maybe buy a whole shh-crap ton of pillows because I can't live like this." I groaned and heard Britt giggling on the other end. "Not funny.."

 _"You're right, it's not."_ She snickered, " _Sorry babe, maybe you should try walking in the park? You'll tire yourself out and won't even notice how sucky our bed is."_ I just grumbled in response; with all this extra weight I'm toting around now, I rather not spend my time walking. She must've read my mind because she laughed again and said something about if I was walking to a Burger King I'd probably do it. She's probably right too! " _Well, how's your headache? Are you feeling any better?_ "

"Yeah, it's getting there. Cas has me drinking warm milk and eating cookies, I think it's really helping."

" _Oh, so you don't need me telling you your_ bedtime stories _tonight?_ " I could practically hear the smirk in her words, but I just rolled my eyes playfully.

"Of course I do, I like hearing what you're doing over there." I replied then said my goodnights to Cassie and Mason before heading off to my room.

" _Well, you know what I'm doing right now?_ " She asked, her voice sounding a little more raspy than usual. I wiggled in under the covers and tried arranging my pillows again.

"Nope, what's that?" I asked breathlessly as I concentrated more on getting comfortable rather than the familiar moans coming from the other end of the phone. Suddenly my brow quirked and I was completely forgetting the pillows and focused in on the sounds Britt was making. "Britt? What are you doing over there.."

" _I've been thinking about you all day, babe._ " She sighed in a voice that made my heart race. My mouth was turning dry and my throat began to tighten as heat between my legs increased. " _Mm, all day.."_

"And what exactly were you thinking about?"

" _How much I miss you, the way you smell, the way your skin feels pressed up against me, the way you taste,"_ She listed off in her husky sounding voice that seemed to spur me on even more. My hand slipped into my pajama pants and felt the wetness that had accumulated there. I had no idea what had gotten into her, but I wasn't going to stop her now, not when she was turning me on so much. I slipped my fingers into my panties and slide along my slick folds as I rolled my head back against the pillows. " _Oh God, San, and the sounds you make when I'm fucking you with my tongue."_

"Ugh, Britt.." I whined as my hips thrusted up on their own. She knows damn well what it does to me when she talks dirty like that. She giggled sexily and hummed in approval.

" _You miss me fucking you, baby?_ " She asked teasingly.

"Uh-huh, so much.." I moaned as I circled my throbbing nub.

" _I miss how warm you feel when my fingers slip inside of you."_ I let out a shaky breath at hearing that, " _The way you cling to me when I'm on top of you and how sloppy our kisses turn when you're so turned on, how you tighten around me when you're getting close_.." My chest was rising and falling rapidly as I kept my hand moving against me. I swear, if she kept talking like that I'd be coming in no time. Even when she's not here she's still got a way of turning me on just by the sound of her voice, it's kind of pathetic. " _Are you getting close, babe?"_

"Uh-huh, so close." I panted as my whole body seemed to heat up. I slipped a second finger in and began a slow pace as she continued to moan into the phone.

" _That's good,"_ She hummed breathlessly, " _I wish I was there with you, I'd make you feel so good_." I swallowed thickly and tried to reply, but I couldn't form the words. " _You touching yourself, huh babe? I bet you are. I bet you wish it was me, my fingers slipping through you, right?_ " The coils were tightening in me and I knew I didn't have much time left so I sped up my movements and let her voice continue to drive me crazy. " _You know what I miss the most, San?"_

"Hmm?" I managed to hum out as my eyes drooped and my forearm began to burn from the exertion.

" _When I'm fucking you really good and you're so close to the edge that just the slightest curl of my fingers can push you over, and you look so sexy under me but what I like the most is the way you say my name._ " That's when I lost it. I quickened my pace as my toes began to curl and my knees started to shake. " _Say my name, baby.._ "

"B-Brittany.." I squeaked, half shocked at her dropping the F bomb yet again, but who cares, I loved when she cursed, I don't even know why. I started tensing up as liquid gushed out of me and coated my fingers that I had pumping inside of me.

" _Yeah, just like that.._ " She sighed and again I could hear the smirk on her lips as she spoke. I was panting and sweating and everything but damn did I feel relaxed now. " _So anyway,"_ She drawled out after a couple minutes of me trying to even out my breathing, her tone going back to her usual bubbly one, " _You'll never guess who I saw today!_ "

"Uhh..babe, where the hell did that come from?" I asked as I finally found my voice again. Was she really going to pick right up with whatever we were talking about before just after she practically pounced on me..through the phone?

" _What? Is it a spider because I really can't help you with that right now, honey. Just ignore it, it's more scared of you than you are of him._ "

"Oh, you _know_ what I'm talking about." I replied sternly, but all she did was giggle that guilty giggle.

" _I was just trying to keep it interesting; you'll be able to fall asleep ten times as fast now! You've got some warm milk in you, some super hot phone sex, and now you'll listen to my work stories, all of which make you really sleepy, so you'll be out like Bryce when Kenzie walks by her in a swim suit in no time!"_

"Got it all figured out, don't you?" I smirked as I felt my eyes getting heavy.

" _Yup, now shush. Close your eyes and put me on speaker so I can tell you all sexy dance moves I picked up on today."_ I rolled my eyes at that but kept the content smile on my face as she went on to tell me about her second day of working.

_The Next Afternoon;_

"And look who's on time!" Quinn smirked as her and Bella leaned against the brick wall of Breadstix. I just rolled my eyes playfully at the short haired blonde then waved to Bella who was already coming over to give me a hug.

"Britt's not here to distract me, of course I'm on time. You guys remember my sister and nephew, right?" I asked and gestured to Cassie and Mason who stood to the side of me as Quinn came up and gave the two hugs.

"Of course! Long time no see!" Quinn chirped as she hugged the two.

"Someone's getting tall," I grinned and patted the top of Bella's head.

"I am! I got measured at the doctor's when I went to go get my shots so I can play soccer again and I've grown a whole two inches!" She squealed excitedly, still skipping along as Cassie and Quinn talked adamantly ahead of us, Mason clinging to Cas's had.

"That's awesome, Bells! Soon you'll be as tall as Britt." Bella's eyes widened at that and did a little excited bounce.

"When's Britt coming back? Soon, right?" Bella asked as the host led us to our booth. She slid in next to Quinn While Cassie and Mason slid in first so I could have the end, being a lefty, I always have to sit on the end or else I'll be throwing 'bows all night.

"Yup, three more days." I replied as I opened up the menu then looked to the side to see what Cassie was going to get.

"I'm sure you're excited about that, San. You planning on throwing a welcome back party?" Quinn asked as she looked up from her menu. I just shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know, I wasn't really thinking of it." I answered, "I think her flight will get in late at night so it might not work out." Quinn nodded in understanding then helped Bella decide what she was going to have for lunch. After a few minutes of scanning, we all placed our orders and chatted idly about Cassie's visit so far and what Quinn's been up to lately. I was cool with them talking because finally the attention wasn't all on me and the baby, it gets tiring after awhile, especially when the paparazzi catch me out and about and they freaking suffocate me with their craziness.

"So yeah, San, tell Brittany that the wedding will be in September." Quinn said as she unraveled her napkin when all of our plates were being set down. "I tried calling her earlier, but she didn't answer."

"Yeah, she turns it on vibrate when she's at the studio. She must've not felt it." I replied, twirling my pasta around my fork. "But I'll tell her, you guys know what day yet?"

"Mmm, not yet..maybe that first weekend? School will be starting up then so I don't want to be stressing out on Bella's first day of the third grade."

"Mom.." Bella groaned, "It doesn't count anymore, I'm almost a big kid now!" She huffed seriously and went back to coloring with Mason.

"No, you're not. You're going to stay young forever." Quinn sighed and brushed through her daughter's dirty blonde hair. Bella had just turned eight years old, and you can tell she's already going to be a heartbreaker when she reaches high school. The kid is the spitting image of Quinn except that her bright blonde hair has started to turn to a mixture of browns and blondes instead, Noah's to thank for that I assume. Cas and I just giggled at the pair as they began to bicker in front of us.

"Anyway," Quinn huffed and directed a pointed glare at her daughter signaling she was done playing with her then smiled back at me and Cassie, "Have you given any thought to a baby shower?"

"I was just thinking about that.." Cas chimed in. Again, the attention was on me so I quickly stuffed my mouth with delicious pasta. "Oh come on, Tana, baby showers are fun!" I just grumbled in response and started to chew.

"You'll get all the free stuff, there's good food, people will be nice to you.." Quinn persuaded while Cassie nodded along with her. "Did I mention free stuff?"

"Yeah, yeah.." I sighed and waved my fork at them, "I'm just not into all that attention right now, you know? I wouldn't even know what to wear, I couldn't dress up nice and look cute because I'm as big as Rachel's ego.."

"Oh stop, Tana, you're not even big. _I_ was bigger than you and I'm smaller than you..besides, you were beautiful at the Grammy's, that dress you wore fit you perfectly." Cassie complimented.

"Well yeah, that's because I wasn't nearly six months pregnant." I pouted as I stared down at my pasta bowl.

"That's just minor details, we can find you a cute dress." Quinn added, "You don't even have to wear a dress, you could wear sweat pants, whatever you want, San, it's _your_ baby shower."

"Plus it'll be small, just family if you want, or maybe you want to invite some friends. It doesn't have to be a big thing." Cassie chimed in yet again. I stared at the both of them and smirked.

"So I take it that the both of you will be planning everything?" I asked skeptically as I took a sip of my water.

"Yeah, sure." They both nodded.

"Well, I'll have to talk to Britt about it but if you two will be handling everything and all's I gotta do is show up and eat and accept everyone's presents, I guess it won't be that bad." Cas and Quinn reached across the table and high fived each other while I just shook my head. "That's not a yes though so calm down."

The rest of lunch went on with Quinn trying to keep Bella from tricking Mason into starting a food fight with her and the casual question about how the baby is doing. It was a nice lunch and it was kind of cool catching up with Quinn, I don't normal hang out with her without Britt unless something is extremely wrong. It was pretty strange that this time we weren't scouting the city for my wife and her pulling me out of bar fights or us arguing over if I'm really in love with Brittany; it's so crazy how often I've gone to her when things get tough, she's actually sort of become my best friend too.

Considering it was still nice and sunny out after lunch, we decided to take the kids down to the park across the street from Breadstix so they could run off all that extra energy. Well, mostly so _Bella_ could run off all the extra energy. Mason's hyper isn't really anything compared to Bella's. The three of us sat on a nearby bench and kept a watchful eye on the two swinging on the monkey bars and sliding down the slides while we talked more about their ideas for this baby shower that I've yet to approve of.

Once it started getting dark, we decided to round up the kids and go our separate ways. When we finally reached the apartment, I was completely wiped out. I ended up just plopping down on the couch but Cassie insisted that I go changed before I accidently fall asleep. She helped pull me back on to my feet then I made my way to my bedroom.

All I did was push the door open, not even bothering to flick on the lights, when I saw someone hiding under my covers. Not gunna lie, it scared the fuck out of me so bad that I screamed.

"What the fuck is that?" I questioned when I turned all the lights on and hid behind the door way just incase that fucker wanted to pounce on me or something equally life threatening. "Cas, come here!" I waited for my sister to come running, but after a couple minutes of just hiding, I realized she wasn't going to come. I straightened up a little and slowly came out from around the door when I realized it wasn't a person, it was a present.

With my brow quirked, I neared the package set at the end of my bed. It was oddly wrapped but there was a card set at the top of it right next to the orange bow.

_Maybe this will help your soreness xoxo Britt_

My face practically split I was smiling that hard, leave it to Brittany to still find a way to slip me surprises. I tugged away at the wrapping and out came this weird U shaped red pillow with a black hoodie somewhat wrapped around one of the sides with the words _Bey's Booty Camp_ written on the chest of the hoodie in white letters. I lifted the giant pillow out from the wrapping and realized how soft it was. I hugged the body pillow to my chest and quickly caught the aroma of a mixture of Britt's shampoo and the smell of her lotion.

God, how I've missed that smell. I nuzzled into the fabric and instantly felt a sense of calm wash over my body.

"I see you got the package." Cassie smirked as she leaned up against my doorway, "That thing was a tough one to wrap."

"Wait, you..but this is her hand writing..and she..but you."

"She sent me her hoodie and the note yesterday along with the address where she had your pillow custom made, I just went to pick it up." Cassie shrugged, "Everything was her idea though, I just helped." I looked back down at the pillow in my arms and the hoodie that graced its _body_ and found myself smiling again. "You really are lucky, she loves you so much."

"I know she does." I sighed as Cas came over and said goodnight then shut the door behind her leaving me to sit on the edge of my bed and stare at Britt's handwriting on the little card attached. Damn that woman and her surprises! She's so sweet, always thinking of me, I wish I was half as creative when it comes to these things. I threw the pillow up near the headboard and quickly changed into my pajamas before wiggling in between the arms of the pillow. I couldn't fight the content sigh as soon as my head hit the softness and I was able to prop up my belly on one of the arms letting my legs curl around it while the other arm of the pillow supported my back. It was like I was being swallowed up in fluff it felt _that_ comfortable. On top of all the extra cushion the pillow gave, I also had Britt's hoodie that Cassie must've tugged up one of the arms so it was _almost_ as good as hugging the real thing. For the first time since Britt's been gone, I actually felt excited to fall asleep, but I decided to give her a call before I did. I checked the clock and saw that it was almost 9 so there was a small chance that she wouldn't be able to pick up since she's in the studio, but I gave it a try anyway.

" _Hi baby, everything okay?_ " Britt's voice fluttered through the line after the third ring. She sounded like she had been running but from the sound of the loud music playing in the background, I could tell she was probably in the middle of dancing..all hot and sweaty and her blonde hair clinging to her cheeks like they usually do and abs all twitching from how deep she's breathing, ugh. " _Hello? San?_ _Did you butt dial me again?_ " I quickly shook the filthy thoughts of how sexy my wife looks right now and focused on the pillow I'm currently curled around.

"Yeah, hey!" I sputtered quickly, "Sorry, I got distracted. You busy right now?"

" _Uhmm..kinda sorta but that's okay what's up?_ "

"Nothing, I just wanted to say thank you." I grinned as I traced my fingers alone the material of the hoodie. "I got the pillow."

" _Oh, you did?! Yay, it got finished early. How do you like it? I was looking at some on the internet and Margret told me of this one place in New York that makes custom ones._ "

"I love it, it's so freaking comfy, like you don't understand it's like sleeping on clouds."

" _Awesome, sleeping on clouds are the best!"_

"The hoodie was a nice touch too."

" _Yeah, I thought you'd like that._ " She giggled cutely and I could just picture her cheeks flushing. " _I wore that one for a whole entire day just to make sure my scent was on it, I know you're into that kind of stuff._ " I laughed at that and buried my face into the hoodie.

"You make me sound like a creep."

" _Or a werewolf.._ "

"What?" I giggled, "Alright, well I know you're busy so I'm going to enjoy this nice fluffy pillow now. I love you, babe."

" _Kaay, love you too! Goodnight, I'll call in the morning._ " I hung up and hid the phone in the pocket of the hoodie, perfect place to hold my phone during the night, and let myself sink into the softness. I only closed my eyes for a second or two and I was already knocked out, it was probably the fastest I've ever fallen asleep since Britt's been away.

That peacefulness didn't last too long though. The next morning, I woke up to the sound of wailing. It was muffled since my door was closed, but I could still hear the sound of Mason crying. With my body still heavy from sleep, however not sore like I usually am, I stumbled out of my bedroom and made my way towards the sound. Before I made it fully across the living room, I saw out the corner of my eye the blinds of the door that led out to the patio opened. I stopped for a second trying to think whether or not I had closed them last night when I saw Cassie walk past, her phone to her ear and her hand waving about in the air. She looked pissed and that's not something I see Cassie look like that often.

I considered going out there to calm her down, but I heard Mason yelling again so I went back to him instead. The closer I came to Cassie's temporary room, the louder he got. I've never heard him so upset before and it sort of scared me, but I tried my best to calm down so he wouldn't pick up on how confused I was. Slowly I opened the door and poked my head in.

"Hey buddy, what's the matter?" I cooed when I saw him partially hiding under the covers all balled up and clinging to one of his stuffed animals for dear life. His body shuddered as I sat down at the edge of the bed. "It's okay, Mas, I'm here." I said softly and tried to pull the covers off of his head, but before I could he was already wiggling onto my lap and trying to get my arms to wrap around him. It killed me to see him so needy like that, he's a cuddler and all but he mostly does his own thing. I curled my arms around him as best as I could with my belly sort of in the way and tried to calm him down. I kept brushing through his hair and rubbing at his back like Britt usually does with me when I'm upset until he wasn't crying nearly as hard anymore. "You're okay, buddy, you're okay," I repeated and rocked with him until all he was doing was hiccupping.

I chanced a look down at him and saw his tear stained cheeks. I took the material of my shirt and brought it up to wipe his tears then gave him a reassuring grin. "You hungry?" He pouted up at me and nodded. "Me too, how about you help me make some pancakes?" He tilted his head to the side like he wasn't sure if he wanted to or not but then nodded and let me tug him up to my hip. When we neared the living room again, I could see Cassie was still out on the patio. Mason saw too and quickly looked away, choosing to bury his face into my neck instead. I rubbed at his back comfortingly then kissed the top of his head before setting him up on the counter. "Let's listen to some music, huh Mas?" I suggested trying to get Mason to focus on me rather than what's going on outside. I turned up the kitchen radio then went on to get our stations ready.

About ten minutes into our cooking, and he finally calm down enough to laugh when I started to dance, I heard the patio door slide open and saw Cassie sneak in. We made eye contact, but before I could even do anything she was already ducking her head again and scurrying off towards the bathroom. I followed her movements with my eyes but directed my gaze back on the pancakes cooking so nothing burned. A few more minutes passed when Cassie finally joined us in the kitchen.

"Need any help?" She asked, her voice sounding a little hoarse from the yelling, but ultimately trying to cover up the fact that she was still a little upset. I looked over my shoulder at her and took in how sunken her eyes were and the slight pink tint of her nose before I shook my head.

"Nope, Mason beat you to it." I replied trying to keep my voice cheery for his sensitive ears but still kept a watchful gaze on Cassie. It must've been that sisterly connection we have kicking in because she seemed to shift uncomfortably beneath my stare and refused to make eye contact again.

Once I flipped the last pancake, I was directing Mason to the dining table, which he had helped set, while Cassie took it upon herself to carry over the drinks and fruit. It was a pretty awkward breakfast; there wasn't much talking, everyone seemed to focus solely on their plate, even Mason was even quieter than usual. Now was really when I missed Brittany; even at the most awkward times she seemed to find a way to ease the tension. I was never good at that; in fact, I was probably the creator of awkward tension.

"Can I watch cartoons now, Auntie Tana?" Mason asked after finishing off his plate. I looked to him with slight confusion; when his mom is around he usually asks her instead of me. I looked up at Cassie and saw the guilt in her eyes then back to Mason and nodded with a smile.

"Go ahead," I replied through a weak smile. He quickly scrambled off his chair and headed for the living room leaving just me and Cassie at the dining table. I kind of felt jealous of the kid, he gets to run off but I've got to stay and get to the bottom of what the hell is going on. I looked over at Cassie who was staring after her son and decided that I wasn't going to wait until she felt comfortable enough to talk to me. Brittany's been gone for four days already and I hoped that in that time I would've made it clear that my own sister could talk to me about whatever, but when I wake up to Mason screaming his head off and her doing just the same I needed to do a little prying.

"I'll clean up." Cassie muttered as she grabbed for my plate but I waved my hand at her.

"No, sit." I spoke up quickly before she could pull away, "That can wait." She looked to me guiltily then sat down slowly. "Cassie, I know I said I wouldn't push you to talk but I-I just can't sit here and do nothing. Please, just tell me what's going on.."

"Santana, I don't want to talk about it." She answered coldly and moved to get up but I quickly reached for her wrist and kept her anchored.

"I don't care, when I wake up to find my nephew freaking _hiding_ under a blanket I think it's time to start talking." I replied sternly and flicked my eyes back to her chair, "So sit down and let's talk." She stared at me awhile longer, trying to match my steely gaze, but couldn't so she took the seat with a sigh.

"Tony was against Mason coming with me here for the week," She whimpered, "He thinks I'm trying to take him away so he won't be able to see him anymore. He's been threatening to take me to court and everything if I don't bring him back by tomorrow." I felt my brows scrunching with rage at hearing that he would try such a thing. "He can't really do anything since we're still technically married, but it's all so tiring to hear every single day I'm here."

"But he knows you're just here because Britt asked you to be?" I questioned, "And he's still being like that?" Cassie nodded sadly, but I just shook my head.

"I'll be looking up flights back home today."

"What?!" I gasped, "No. You're staying-"

"Santana, I can't just do whatever I want. There are bigger things at stake here," I watched as she glanced over at Mason, "I'm not letting him find another way to take Mason away from me."

"Another?" I asked skeptically, "What do you mean another.."

"I-I it's nothing, it happened a long time ago when Mason was just a baby." Cassie said, shaking her head at whatever memory she was thinking of, "Just know that it was an accident and I'd never intentionally put my son in danger like that. It's just, with that whole affair he had he's trying his hardest to find something to hold over me and this combined with that would work perfectly."

"Cas, you can't let him walk all over you." I sighed and reached my hand over to press on the back of hers when I saw her eyes welling up. "Nothing he could say or hold against you would ever change the fact that you are an awesome mom to Mason. " She nodded reluctantly as she stared down at the table.

"He's a good man, Tana, he's just..he's lost himself somewhere."

"Well maybe it was when he decided to cheat on you?" I scoffed, "That could've been it, but I'm just thinking out loud here.." I knew instantly I should not have said that and cursed my short temper for getting the best of me. She looked back up and stared straight into my eyes like she was reading my thoughts.

"Don't ask me to leave him because I don't think I can..I love him." The tears fell freely as she said that. I knew the feeling; being in love with someone who was so completely wrong for you and everyone in the world was practically begging you to let them go but you just couldn't because you were fucking _in love_. I knew the feeling all too well. For me though, it was a matter of pleasing our parents and the public rather than solely just being in love so maybe I didn't know just _exactly_ what she was going through.

"I know you do, Cas." I sighed and scooted over so that I could wrap my arms around her. Her head dropped to my shoulder as soon as I got close enough and her body shuddered against me, "But you know that this isn't working. I know you're trying so hard so that Mason can still have his dad in his life, but I think you're doing more bad than good. You're probably right, Tony was a good guy when you guys first met but you can't deny that he changed." She picked her head up off my shoulder and sniffled. "And you can't change him back no matter how hard you try, it won't happen. I really don't think it's healthy for Mason to grow up in such conditions, especially when he's still so young. You're both too good to stay with someone who doesn't treat you with the upmost respect."

"I just..I'm scared. I don't want to be alone. Mason wasn't brought into the world so that I'd be the only one experiencing his firsts with him. I don't want him to be one of those kids that has to split his holidays and alternate weekends, I want him to have the both of us..all the time. We can get past this, we fix this." I tried to keep the smoke from spewing out of my ears because that was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard! I was beginning to regret making Cassie talk to me about what was going on with her because this really wasn't good for my stress levels, but I knew we were making some sort of progress.

"I understand that, Cas, I do, but you realize that you're settling right?" I asked when I saw her walls slowly building back up, "You're settling because why? He's the father of your child? He _used_ to be a good guy? You don't want to be alone? That's not fair to you or Mason. How do you know that he's not the one for you? What if he's the guy that you're supposed to move on from in order for you to meet the _right_ one? Why make yourself suffer when that could be a possibility?"

"But what if it isn't?" She questioned bitterly, "What if Tony _is_ it for me? What if this is how my life is supposed to turn out? We've been together for six years; my whole life was built around him and our family. He's all I've known, you can't expect me to just up and leave him." I just shook my head because that was complete bullshit. No one should just give up on life because things got hard or they're too scared of trying something new.

"You know what? If I thought the same way you did, I would've never gotten to where I am now." I replied, "I would've stayed with Brooke and put up with all of her bullshit. I would've been unhappy with everything. I would've had a sucky wedding which I would've faked smiles through the whole time. I would've never gave Brittany a chance. I would've never gotten pregnant because Brooke hates kids. I would've never felt the true happiness that just emits off Brittany. I would've regretted my entire life. Do you want that, Cassie? You want to live your whole entire life thinking you could've done everything differently?" She buried her face in her hands and out came muffled sobs. I looked towards Mason and saw that he was too absorbed in an episode of Spongebob to even notice. Despite the feeling of annoyance I had for her situation and how someone would actually consider leading a sucky life just because they don't want to be alone, I wrapped my arms around her again and hugged her close. It was rare to see my older sister look so broken like she did now so I wasn't going to make her feel even worse. Something that seems simple to me may not look that way to her so I didn't push my boundaries.

"It was easier for you; you already had someone waiting for you to pull your head out of your ass." I pressed my lips tightly together at hearing that because damn she was right! "Not me, I don't have that. No one's willing to work through this with me. I don't have anyone like that." She mumbled, "You know what? You're right..I am settling. I don't want that, Santana. I want to get out of this, but I'm..I'm not strong enough to do it alone."

"Oh Cas," I sighed when she began silently sobbing into my shoulder, "You are _so_ much stronger than you think you are. You practically raised Mason by yourself and he's such a good kid, you should be so proud. _I'm_ so proud." I began rocking her a little until her crying wasn't as evident anymore before pulling her up to hand her some napkins to whip her cheeks. "You won't have to do this alone, you know. You have me." I smiled reassuringly at her as she wiped her tears, "You've got Brittany too. We might not be able to give you that security you're looking for mainly because I'm your sister and that's incest _and_ gross," She let out a choked laugh at that, "And I've already called dibs on Brittany so you can't try anything with her either. But we're happy to help you and Mason with whatever, whenever. Even if you need to get away from Ohio for a little while, we will always have a place for you to stay. We got your back, sis." She sent me a watery smile then nodded appreciatively.

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." She replied and circled me in another hug, "You've really grown up so much."

"I know you're not calling me old," I teased sensing our emotional conversation was drawing to a close, "Because I'm only 27 years old of age..besides you're the one with more wrinkles than me." Cassie let out another chuckle and rolled her eyes.

"Yet _you're_ the one complaining about back problems and arthritis." She shot back quickly behind a smirk.

"Hey, one..I'm toting a freaking head of cabbage in my stomach and two, I never complained about arthritis. I just said that my fingers feel like they're stiffening up..I think they miss Britt more than I do." She clapped her hands over her ears and just shook her head.

"Gross, I don't wanna know." She laughed and started cleaning up the table.

"Don't worry, I got it." I offered then nodded over to where Mason was, "I think you should hand out with him, I get the feeling he's the sulk in silence type if you know what I mean." She looked over her shoulder towards the living room then handed her plates to me before nodding.

The rest of the day went by quickly with just two more days of Cassie being in town I decided to take her out to all my secret spots, none of that touristy shit you see on tv. She seemed a little happier now that we had the chance to talk about what's been bothering her, she made it clear that she didn't have many people to talk to about that sort of thing because just like our parents everyone just assumed she had the perfect life. Mason's spirits picked back up too which I was thankful for because I don't know how long I could take a sad Mason.

It made me wonder if I'd be just as pathetic whenever my own son got upset; probably.

After some sightseeing, we did a little shopping around for new maternity clothes because I swear nothing ever fits right anymore. We had our run-in's with the reporters who seemed to just lurk in the bushes waiting for me. I was a little nervous without Brittany here to protect me; sure I could do it myself, but it was always reassuring, and super sexy, when she did it instead. Thankfully nothing too important happened with that and they're questions were easily ignored.

Thanks to Brittany, everyone still thinks I'm 13 _months_ pregnant. Sometimes I wonder about people around here, but whatever. Let them think what they want, less to worry about when the time comes.

Later that night, we decided that since it was Friday we'd do Friday Night Fajitas. It was a little thing our parents used to do when we were younger, it became a sort of tradition and when things got complicated we could always fall back on Friday Night Fajitas to bring us all back together.

So tonight seemed like a perfect time to reinstate that tradition.

" _You know, I'm kind of jealous. I rather have that than this_." Brittany pouted as she held up her slice of pepperoni pizza towards the webcam. After we got past the initial shock of finally _seeing_ her after so long, we both calmed down enough so I could bring the laptop out where Cassie and Mason were without the risk of her saying something very Brittany-like, which lately has been pretty sexual and inappropriate.

"Don't worry, I'll make you some when you come home." I grinned as I scooped out some filling onto a warmed tortilla. "Cassie makes the best though so you'll have to catch her while she's here." I looked to Cassie who was smiling bashfully as she helped Mason with his fajita.

" _Oh, okay! Maybe you can teach me, Cassie, that way I'll know how to make at least_ two _ethnic dishes!_ " Brittany replied happily as she took a bite of her super greasy looking pizza. Wherever she was, it looked beautiful and it made me wish I was there with her. She must've been at some boardwalk cafe because I could see the railing separating the beach and boardwalk just behind her and she kept squinting her eyes and ducking her head to hide from the bright rays of sun that filtered through the palm trees around her. She looked stunning, even if she wasn't really trying. That was always the best when it came to her, she didn't _have_ to try, she just was. She had on a low cute light pink tank top and her blond hair swept to the side as she wiggled her pizza cutely, the sun causing her skin to glow wonderfully. She was just so damn beautiful and all she was doing was eating pizza." _Quit staring at me, creeper, I'm trying to eat here_!" She teased when I had my head tilted in the direction of the laptop for longer than I should've Cassie and Mason giggled at Britt's taunting but I could tell from that little twitch in her lips that she had been doing the exact same thing.

Even miles away and through a freaking webcam, we still sucked at keeping our eyes to ourselves.

I just rolled my eyes at her and went back to eating while Britt carried on a conversation with Cassie about how I was holding up and what's been going on since she's been away. It was nice sort of having her there, even if she was just a picture on a laptop. It _felt_ like she was really there. I knew the baby loved it though, he was moving around like crazy but I think he just likes the sound of Britt's voice too. He only seems to move around like that when she's talking.

" _This is cool, it's like I'm eating dinner with you guys!_ " Brittany laughed after taking a sip of whatever she was drinking, " _Except it's only like lunch time here and I'm not eating anything nearly as good as what you guys are._ "

"It _is_ pretty nice, we should've thought of this before." I agreed and went on to make another fajita after the one I _just_ made seemed to disappear.

" _I really miss you guys, especially Mason._ " Britt winked as Mason wiggled in his seat and waved at Brittany through the webcam. He was still pretty amazed that she could even see him and he see her, it was cute. He was totally camera shy though, which I found hilarious because if Bella was here she'd be all up in the camera.

"Well two more days, babe!" I cheered excitedly causing Brittany to smile down bashfully then look back up at her screen.

" _Mhm, two more..well really, one and a half._ " She shrugged casually as she took another bite. I looked over at Cassie who was already sending me a confused expression.

"What do you mean _one and a half_? You're supposed to be coming back Monday night.." I offered skeptically as I set down my fajita and folded my arms and rested my elbows on the table. Of course, Brittany just shrugged innocently again and took another bite before talking again with her mouth half full.

" _I didn't tell you? I thought I told you..maybe that was Bryce. Don't know,"_ She rambled as she tried chewing and talking at the same time. So attractive, right? " _But yeah, we're wrapping up Sunday afternoon since I'm awesome and finished up faster than they thought. I'll be home Sunday night instead. Yay!_ "


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey San?"

" _Yeah Britt?"_

"Do you think it's weird that I can tell I'm in a different state because the air smells different?" I questioned as wedged my phone between my shoulder and ear so I could triple check when I'd have to be at the next gate. For some reason, the layover in Philly was an hour and a half rather than just a half an hour like last time. I was really starting to get anxious about getting home and this layover was definitely marshing my mellows. Then again, I _did_ have to wait an extra three last time because of the thunderstorms so maybe I should be thankful that it's currently sunny outside.

" _Hmm, yeah that is a tad bit strange but I still love you anyway."_ Santana replied through a giggle. I had been calling her every 15 minutes it seemed just to tell her where I was or what airport task I had just completed. I was starting to get a little worried that maybe I was annoying her with all my calls, but then I realized after she'd call to remind me not to leave behind my carryon bag or not to say Hi to anyone named Jack that she was also really excited about me coming home too! " _So around what time do you think you'll be home?_ "

"Well.." I drawled out as I stretched out my slouched against the bench so I could stretch out my legs, "Whenever you and Cassie decide to pick me up probably."

" _Britt.."_

"I'm just kidding," I giggled at hearing her groan then flicked open my little booklet that I had resting in my lap and looked it over, "My itinerary says I'll be getting in around 7:45pm."

" _Ohh, okay. So I'll tell Cassie we'll head over around 7._ "

"Or like 7:30," I suggested, "7 seems kind of early, doesn't it?"

" _Hmm, maybe 7:05 then."_

"Or _maybe_ 7:30," I chuckled, "Even if you're there at 6, I still won't be there until 7:45 at the earliest."

" _Okay.."_ San sighed then there was a short pause, " _So what you're saying is we should probably get there around 7:15?_ " I just laughed and shook my head at the ground. This was one of those disagreements I was just not going to win.

"Yeah baby, 7:15 is fine." I smirked wishing I could just kiss her for sounding so cute, "You know, if you guys come any earlier I just might think you're _really_ excited to see me or something crazy like that.."

" _Huh, really? Well we wouldn't want that now, would we? Maybe you should just take a cab home instead."_ She answered and to any other ears you'd think she was being serious, but to me, even over the phone, I could tell when she was being sarcastic. Besides, I know for a fact she's missed me too much to let me cab it home. If she could, she'd probably find a way to stop the plane just as it touches down and have the pilot open up the escape ladder or something so she could see me faster, she's misses me _that_ much.

"I could totally do that," I replied just as simply, playing along with her little act, "Do you think they'd let me ride for free because I've worked with Beyonce now? I think they should.."

" _Try it and see what happens._ "

"Okay, I will!"

" _Okay._ "

Then there was a long pause where I wasn't sure if she was waiting for me to keep it going or what, but my decision to speak up was made for me when she replied instead.

" _Soo..I'll be there at 7:15 to take you home?_ "

"Definitely." I answered happily and checked my phone quickly for the time seeing that I should probably head towards my gate now. "San, I've got to get going. I need to focus on these signs so I don't get lost."

" _Alright, call me when you get here._ "

"Mmkay, see you at 7:45."

" _I'll be waiting at 7:15."_

After successfully finding my gate, I boarded the plane and found my seat next to the window. I was getting more and more excited as the pilot started talking over the intercom saying that the flight would only be an hour and five minutes. I was thankful for such a short flight because after the crazy I had to deal with last time I was in this state, I just wanted to get out as quick as I could. The pilot went on to say that we'd arrive in New York on time and it would be a smooth ride thanks to the great flying weather. I decided to take that hour and five minutes to take a much needed nap, or at least try to. With having to pack last night then wake up early to wrap up the shoot then go out for a quick lunch with all my new dancer friends as a half goodbye to me and half celebration for finishing up the music video in a week, I haven't gotten much sleep. Really, I'm just working off the adrenaline of seeing Santana again after six whole days.

The flight went by quicker than I thought and by the time I had finally began to drift off, the pilot's voice on the loud speaker jolted me awake. The stewardesses came through the isles to collect empty soda cans and plastic cups, not peanut wrappers since they don't hand those out anymore for some reason, then advised everyone to put their seats in the _upright_ position because the plane was beginning to descend.

I took a peek out of my little window and instantly smiled. The bright lights of the city sparkled through the fluff of the clouds making my heart clench; I was so close to being home that I couldn't stand it! A new wave of energy buzzed through my body as the lights got closer and closer then after the wheels finally touched down causing everyone to bounce around a little; I felt my body ease slightly. Once we pulled up to our dock, or whatever they call those tunnel things, I really wanted to just push past everyone, even that old man who sounded like he was coughing up a lung the entire flight, and get the heck off that plane. Somewhere in that building was my wife and that thought alone had me grinning like crazy.

I waited patiently, instead of climbing over the empty seats like I really wanted to do, for the other passengers to grab their stow aways and slowly file out of the plane. Once I stepped foot onto the makeshift tunnel that connected the plane to the building I began to pick up speed. I was still fumbling to turn my cell phone back on, I've always thought leaving it on would somehow mess up the plane's navigation systems or something and cause us to end up in Africa or where ever, all while making sure I didn't bump into anyone. When the screen finally lit, I check for the time and found that we had arrived at exactly 7:45pm.

Following the flow of traffic, people traffic that is, I found myself coming to the opening of the gate where it opened up to the center lobby where all the gates met. If I wasn't excited then, I _definitely_ was excited now because somewhere at the end of this huge hallway is Santana, who probably kept her word and has been waiting there for 30 minutes already.

I adjusted the strap of my carryon on my shoulder and stuck my itinerary in the back pocket of my jeans then began to scan the area with my phone in hand. There must've been more people on my flight than I thought because there were tons of people everywhere making it really hard for me to pick out the person I was looking for. I was just about to dig out my phone and call her when I saw long, dark, wavy hair. I squinted my eyes in their direction to make sure I had the right person, how awkward would it be if I didn't, then sure enough standing just off to the side was Cassie and in her arms was Mason. Santana had her back to me so there was no way she could've spotted me and Cassie and Mason were too absorbed in whatever San was saying to them to even notice me walking closer either.

"Cas, are you sure it said Gate B and not Gate D?" I heard San question as I came within listening distance. I watched as she turned her head to the left then to the right where Gate B and Gate D were then scratch at her head. "Maybe I should call her? She should be here by now.." I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing at how cute San sounded all worried and what not. Cassie was just about to reply when she saw me coming up behind Santana. I motioned for her and Mason to keep quiet, to which she smiled then nodded. I was worried San would've seen the little gestures, but she was too busy staring down at her phone to see them. "Yeah, it says Gate B..she should've been here."

"Who are you looking for?" I spoke up once I got close enough to place my hand between San's shoulder blades. I ducked down a little so that I was talking softly into her ear while my eyes flicked up to Cassie as I smiled. "Maybe I can help." Even through her sweater I could feel San's muscles ease at the sound of my voice. She slowly turned around to see me standing there then practically launched herself at me.

"Oh my God, Britt!" She squealed as she wrapped her arms around my neck and started pressing little kisses along my jaw and cheeks.

"Careful, honey." I chuckled at her excitement and snaked my arms around her waist, her belly pressing into mine as I pulled her closer to keep her balanced. We stayed holding each other for a couple minutes, getting lost in each other's warmth that we'd missed so much. Once her heels met the floor again, she pulled away from showering my face with soft kisses just to stare up at me with her cheek bunching grin. I felt my cheeks start to flush as she continued to stare at me with such love in her deep brown eyes. "Hi," I managed to choke out.

"Hey," She grinned with the flutter of her long lashes, "Welcome home."

"Thanks, baby." I replied and leaned down to press a kiss to her full lips while I ran my hands over the curve of her belly. Before I could linger on her lips any longer, I remembered we weren't alone and Cassie and Mason had been standing behind us the whole time. I looked up from Santana then walked over to Cassie and Mason. "Sorry, I got distracted." I giggled and opened my arms up to close around the both of them, "Thanks for coming to pick me up."

"No problem, Britt, we're glad you're home." Cassie replied as she curled an arm around my shoulders all while keeping Mason steady on her hip.

"Hey cutie!" I cheered as I pinched at his chubby cheeks getting him to giggle.

"St-stop Auntie Britt, that tickles!" He huffed between bursts of laughter.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop." I chuckled then turned back to San, still kind of amazed that she's within arm's reach again. "We should probably head down to baggage claim before someone steals all my stuff." San and Cassie just snorted at my seemingly serious tone before Cassie led the way to the escalator while San's fingers laced through mine then tugged me closer to her so that there was practically no space between our bodies. "Someone's awfully clingy today." I teased but kept my eyes on Cassie's back as she walked ahead of us.

"Blame it on the baby," She joked, "He missed his mommy lots!"

"I missed him lots too," I cooed as I cupped our clasped hands with my free one and leaned into her shoulder a little, "I missed his mama also." She grinned cutely again and bumped my arm with the side of her head. Once we got to the baggage claim we waited patiently for the luggage to start spitting out. Cassie had set Mason down but he remained close to her legs or held tightly to her hand; I get the feeling he doesn't like big crowds either.

"So did you want to go out for dinner after this?" San asked as we all stared at the conveyer belt for my bags.

"Uhm..I kind of want to go home and relax." I shrugged, "But if you've made plans then we can go too, I don't mind. Are you hungry?" She just looked at me and laughed. "What? What'd I say?" I asked confusedly.

"B, you've been back for like 20 minutes and you're already falling right back into place." She replied as she pressed her lips together forming a tight lipped smile. "But I'm fine, there's still food at the house. We'll go home if you'd like to." I nodded then spotted my bag at the corner of my eye.

"Oh, that one's mine." I motioned but just before I could start walking over, a young looking man in a suit walked over.

"Would you like me to get that for you, Miss Pierce-Lopez?"

"You're not gunna run off with it, are you?" I asked hesitantly but he just smiled and shook his head.

"No ma'am."

"Well, okay then, sure! I probably wouldn't have gotten very far anyway, my wife is super clingy right now and I don't think she'd let go of my hand." I rambled as I nodded over to San who was staring back wide eyed.

"Oh my God, Brittany!" She huffed out of embarrassment and looked to the worker, "She's..that's not true."

"Says the woman who has got a death grip on my hand." I teased and held up our clasped hands to the man. He laughed and went to pick up my three suitcases and piled them on the dolly. I looked back over at San, who was looking a little flustered, then leaned down and pressed my lips to her cheek. "It's okay, San, I think it's super cute."

"Whatever.." She grumbled seeming like she really was a little hurt by what I said, but she stayed clinging to my hand regardless so I knew she wasn't too upset.

But just as a precaution, you can never be too safe considering how fast San's moods can change, I curled my free hand around her arm and lowered a bit to nuzzle into her shoulder to make it look like I was the clingy one. She tilted her head enough to glance at me then smiled as she gently squeezed on my hand.

Once we reached the doors that led to the parking garage, I could already see the horde of photographers ready to start snapping pictures. Thankfully, alongside the crowd were a few employees keeping them from getting to close to us as we walked out. Cassie scooped Mason up and set him on her hip while he burrowed down into her shoulder to hide from the bright flashes, while I instinctively snaked my arm around San's waist and pulled her closer to me as we walked towards the car.

"Welcome back to New York!" Flash.

"When are you due?" Flash.

"Boy or girl?" Flash.

"Any ideas for names?" Flash.

"How was working with Beyonce?" Flash.

We all kept our heads lowered and I refrained from answering any questions this time; I really didn't feel like dealing with them right now since I was so tired from all the traveling and extremely long day I've had. Once Cassie managed to pop the trunk, the man loaded up the car while I helped San get inside and Cassie buckle Mason up. I tipped him graciously; anyone who can put up with the paparazzi and get their job done is pretty awesome in my book. So after that, we were all on the way home.

I can't really describe the smell or name something that closely resembles it, but when I finally walked in, it just smelled like home. It was comforting being back after spending a week at a five star hotel, sleeping in a bed that was super comfy but unfamiliar and eating out at fast food restaurants and diners. I felt my body relax as we all shuffled inside and I dragged my suitcases to our bedroom, which would probably remain packed until San _made_ me unpack because touching those things is the last thing I want to do right now.

"I'm going to get Mas changed into his pjs." Cassie called out as she carried a sleepy little boy towards her temporary bedroom. I nodded as I followed San into the kitchen where she started rummaging through the fridge. I just leaned against the counter then looked around and smiled, everything was exactly how I left it, before glancing over in San's direction to see her fumbling with some Tupperware.

"Oh, I'll get it." I offered and walked over to catch a falling container just before it hit the floor. "I'll make dinner for you, go sit down." She just looked up at me and smiled with her eyes before shaking her head.

"Babe, you _just_ got home..I'm perfectly fine heating up leftovers so _you_ go sit down." She replied as she set down the containers on the counter and swiped the one I had in my hands.

"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly, "I can-"

"Britt, you're banned from the kitchen." She said sternly then swatted at my butt as she jutted her chin out to the dining table. "Sit down, I know you're tired, you look like you're about to fall asleep standing up." It was then that I started realizing that each time I blinked my eyes would sting a little, so I nodded and slowly went over to sit down and just watched San busy herself in the kitchen. I propped my chin up in my hands and found myself smiling at how adorable she was scooping out what looked to be leftover chili into a pot then waddled across to the other side of the kitchen to the stove where she scrunched up her nose at trying to reach over to turn the dials with the vent hood in the way. I couldn't tell if it was just because I hadn't seen her in a week or our son was growing really fast in there, but her stomach looked slightly bigger than before. She looked so comfy in her dark green knit sweater and her black maternity pants and her long hair piled up into a messy bun at the top of her head though.

"You're such a cute pregnant lady." I blurted as I stared off at my wife lovingly. She glanced over at me, wooden spoon in her hand and eyes squinted playfully at me, then winked.

"I love seeing you in our kitchen again." She sighed contently as she continued to stir until it was heated thoroughly then scooped out some of the hot chili into three bowls and walked over to the table with two while she left the other on the stove. She slid the bowl over then took a seat next to me.

"Thanks," I hummed as I took a scoop and blew away the steam. She ducked her head in response, her mouth already filled with a spoonful of chili. We ate in a content silence, sharing sweet smiles and longing glances, until Cassie emerged from the hall without Mason.

"The boy is knocked out." Cassie chuckled then glanced over San's shoulder to see what she was eating.

"Don't worry, I left you a bowl sis." San teased as she pointed her spoon to the kitchen.

"Ugh, finally," She groaned playfully and walked the way to the stove where her bowl was waiting. I watched the two proudly; they seemed to have gotten a lot closer since I've been gone and that made me really happy considering just a couple years ago they weren't on speaking terms. Things have changed so much, good changes though!

"So this is your last night in town?" I asked after swallowing a bite.

"Sadly, yeah. It was a nice little vacation, but I've got to deal with some things back home." Cassie nodded down at her bowl while San seemed to pause a moment and stare at her. I looked at the two feeling like I had missed out on some inside joke but ended up shrugging; San will probably tell me later.

"Oh, when's your flight leave? Maybe we can have like a last get together before you go or something?"

"That'd be pretty cool, I believe I've got to check in at 6pm." Cassie hummed as she swirled her spoon around.

"Awesome!" I cheered then turned to San, "We could do like an early lunch? Have Quinn and Sam and Bella come over, yeah?" San's stormy eyes cleared as she looked at my excited smile.

"That sounds perfect." San nodded then flicked her head over to Cassie, "Her and Quinn have been trying to get me to cave into letting them throw me a baby shower, but I said I'd wait until you're back so we can talk about it together." Cassie just laughed and waved San's hand away from her face as the two started to poke at each other.

"Ooh, a baby shower?" I always pictured her sitting in like a white rocking chair surrounded by all these gift bags given to us by our family and close friends and little pastries on silver platters sat right next to her chair and her snapping at Bryce because she'd tease her about saving enough of the macaroons for everyone else and I'd flick Bryce's ear and tell her to leave my baby mama alone then I'd sit next to San and we'd coo over all the cute baby stuff we'd get.

"See, Tana? Brittany wants one.." Cassie laughed while San just rolled her eyes at her.

"I said it wasn't a yes and it wasn't a no.." San huffed and played with her spoon, "We can talk more about it tomorrow at lunch, I'm sure you and Quinn would just love to give a million and seven reasons why we should throw one." I chuckled at San feigning annoyance; she just loved giving people a hard time. "At least I won't be alone when you guys tag team me again." I watched as San and Cassie laughed at each other and went on to tell me more little stories of how things were when I was gone; I loved seeing the sisterly bonding, made me really want to call up Bryce and catch up.

We stayed up a little while longer, even after we were all finished eating, just catching up and exchanging stories until I saw San yawn and noticed that this was her usual bedtime. Despite her wanting me to chill, I helped her carry the dirty dishes to the sink where Cassie ended up cleaning up. San and I slowly made our way to our bedroom where I just couldn't wait to flop down.

So once I was within distance, I did just that.

"Oh soft comfy bed, how I've missed you so.." I mumbled into the comforter that smelled of our Lavender scented detergent and Santana's body wash. I fanned my arms out and nuzzled my cheek against the blanket with my eyes closed, letting the softness caress my skin, and hummed contently.

"Go change before you fall asleep like that." San laughed and ran her fingers along my spine before tugging a little on the hem of my cardigan to get my attention. I grumbled but ended up rolling over because I knew she was right. When I had flipped over on my back, my feet planted on the shaggy carpet, and leaned up on my forearms, I was met with Santana standing just between my legs with a soft smile playing at her lips and her head tilted to the side. I smiled back sleepily then sat up all the way so I could bring my hands up to rest on her belly. Silently, I rolled up her sweater to reveal caramel skin and laid a gentle kiss just above her belly button while I kept my palms pressed against the sides of her stomach. I brushed my lips further up while my hands slowly left her tummy and smoothed around her waist until they rested at her hips. It felt so nice to be able to end the night like this; holding San close while our son relaxed in his squishy waterbed just beneath my fingers.

"I've missed this so much," I sighed happily. I pressed another kiss to her skin and looked up in time to see Santana smiling lovingly down at me as she brought up her hand to run her fingers through my hair, her tips massaging at my scalp ever so slightly, then moved to cup my cheek.

"Me too," She nodded as she tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and let her fingers linger on my skin, "Let's get changed though. I'm tired and I wants to get my cuddle on."I let loose a low giggle and dropped my hands from her waist to push myself up from the edge of the bed and started towards the dresser. After shedding our clothes and slipping into something more comfortable, we were inching back towards the bed.

"Woah, the pillow was bigger than I thought." I deadpanned as my eyes roamed the red U shaped body pillow that was piled up on my side of the bed. San laughed and leaned over on her knee to reach for it.

"Yeah, I love it but I think I'll retire it for now though," She flopped the pillow to the floor then threw me a wink, "I've got an even better pillow." I grinned bashfully as I slid under the comforter, Santana doing the same, until we were both nice and cuddled up.

She was lying on her side, her leg carelessly thrown over mine as her hands rested on her belly, when she leaned in to press a quick kiss to the tip of my nose. I scrunched my nose at the little tickle she left before moving my arms to encompass her warm body.

"You sad about your sister leaving tomorrow?" I asked quietly as I subconsciously counted the times her eyelashes fluttered.

"Yeah, a little bit." San sighed through a slight pout, "I felt like we were finally getting somewhere, you know? I just can't stand the thought of her and Mason actually _living_ there with him around, I get this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach and I hate it." When I saw her getting worked up so quickly, I moved my hand to rub gently at her back. Whatever happened while I was away, whatever conversation her and Cassie had that morning when San texted me instead of calling, must've really been an important one, and whatever was going on with Cassie and her husband now doesn't sit well with Santana. That much was certain, and if it doesn't sit well with her then it doesn't sit well with me either.

"Everything will work itself out in the end, babe." I replied as I kept my hand running up and down her back.

She smiled gratefully then laid her head on my chest, "You've missed so much, B, I wish you were there. You would've known the right things to say to her, you always know the right things to say."

"Yeah right, I'm sure you did an awesome job without me." I nodded, "But I can tell, you can fill me in if you wanna..or if you're too tired then-"

"Hmm, wanky." She husked and pressed a kiss to my mouth, her cocky smirk evident in the kiss. Even in the dark, I'm sure she could still see my little eye roll I gave her.

"Keep it in your pants, lady, that's not till tomorrow night." I husked, matching her confident tone. Her eye brow rose at that but knew better to ask what I was talking about and just went on to catch me up with what her and Cassie talked about involving Cassie's husband and Mason. Despite being sleepy earlier, now that I was in bed, I just couldn't find it in me to go to sleep; I'm blaming the excitement of being back home still coursing through me. And also, jet lag.

She gave me the somewhat shortened version of Cassie's marriage and the role it played in Mason's life and why Cassie couldn't leave Tony. My heart broke a little when San told me that Cassie was afraid to be alone, that she'd put up with her husband's antics just because she thought she wasn't strong enough to raise Mason alone. Cassie always seemed so confident, I'd never seen her as a type of person that'd sacrifice her happiness because she was scared to try and find something different. She was such a nice, caring person, she didn't deserve to be treated the way her husband treated her. Then when Santana went on to tell me how Tony threatened to take Mason away from Cassie all I could do was shake my head; it made me wonder what Tony had over Cassie that made her think that it would be enough to cancel out all the bad things Tony has done, but Santana said she didn't want to ask since Cassie was already really guarded when she brought it up. I felt really sorry for them, but mostly, I felt sorry for Mason. All kids should be raised with love and though Cassie's said Tony was a good dad to Mason, I've never seen it. I still remember during the holidays when we came to visit and he left right in the middle of dinner for _business_ he didn't even say by to Mason. Not one hug or kiss or wave or anything! It made me consider the life of our own son and what it meant to love him. Even if I didn't _technically_ help make him, I knew I already loved him all the same and I just couldn't imagine any parent not wanting to feel that for their child.

"I'd never do that to you, San." I mumbled after San's story drew to a close and she was slowly nodding off.

"Do what?" She asked sleepily as she nuzzled against the crook of my neck, her warm breath tickling my skin.

"What Tony does to Cassie." I answered simply as I closed my eyes, finally feeling the sleep sink in.

"I know you wouldn't," She replied softly then pressed a tender kiss to my jaw, "And I would never do that to you either." I was already falling fast into my slumber, but I still smiled at hearing her words.

"Goodnight, San." I managed to breathe out before I finally drifted off.

"Night, B."

_Early Afternoon;_

"Britt, what are you doing?"

I looked down at the turquoise towel in my hands and the change of clothes under my arm before glancing up at Santana standing in the door way and shrugged.

"Uhm, going to take a shower?" I watched as her brown eyes darkened then rake up my body like something in her switched.

"You're supposed to be unpacking.." San husked as her hands found my hips and used her position to pin me back against our bathroom door. I quirked my brow at her sudden forcefulness but let her do her thing; I've never had a problem with a dominant Santana before, it's super sexy. I dropped my towel and clothes and fisted her shirt instead. Our mouths crashed together again sloppily while my hands ran up her back to pull her closer.

"And _you're_ supposed to be cooking.." I smirked as I kissed a trail down her neck then flicked my tongue out and licked up the kisses I just laid. I felt her body shudder against me and it made me smile even more; Santana just loves neck kisses like that.

"Uh-huh.."She groaned thoughtlessly as she rolled her head back to allow more skin for me to kiss while she gripped tighter on my waist and pressed her stomach into mine. I brushed my lips past her jaw until I found her slightly swollen lips then moved my mouth languidly against hers. Though I've been back for about half a day now, I've yet to kiss Santana like this and now that we've started I don't know how in the world I was able to live without. Santana's lips are like a mixture of rainbows, unicorn kisses, red velvet cheesecake, and all things that are good in the world. I kind of feel sorry for all the poor souls that would never get to experience the feeling of her lips, but then again, I'm not; Santana's mine and when it comes to her, I don't like sharing.

Suddenly, I realized the tightening fingers on my hips were gone and now moving slowly under my tank top to smooth against my twitching muscles. I don't know what it is about her touching me on my stomach, but the way her fingertips sort of drag against me and the way she licks her lips as she slides over the dips and curves of my abs is enough to get me groaning for more.

I think it's because she has magic fingers; I mean, that's the only logical explanation. It's cool though, because she tells me I have magic fingers too, so we're pretty much a match made in heaven.

A new chill hit my body as my tank top left my torso and I felt her tugging at the clasp of my bra then her lips brush over my collarbone making my hips buck slightly. I knew where she was going, or where I _wanted_ her to go rather, but that little mischievous glint in her eyes told me it wasn't happening anytime soon. I decided to test my limits though, maybe I could use our six days apart to my advantage.

"Take it off, baby." I rasped as I brought my hands up her back and rested at her shoulder blades. She had been kissing at my neck and clavicles but when she heard the request, she stopped and quirked her brow. I wasn't sure if I was close to getting what I wanted or pushing her to further her teasing, but I decided to try again. "Please, take it off.." I whined and stuck my chest out a little when I felt her fingers dance around the clasp. When her seductive smile turned into a smirk, I knew I had pushed her to keep her teasing going. Fail.

"No can do, Pink Cheeks." She grinned devilishly as she extenuated each word with a soft kiss along my jaw before cupping my chin to make me look down at her. Her brown eyes swirled with lust and love as she stared back into my deep blues. I poked my bottom lip out and scrunched my brows; she couldn't start this and not finish, that would be mean.

"Why not?" I whimpered as I dipped my hands down to rest at her waist then tried to move lower to the curve of her ass, but she caught my wrists and pushed them back to her waist.

"Because," She drawled out, "You're supposed to be unpacking."

"And _you're_ supposed to be cooking." I huffed playfully and narrowed my eyes at her, "I don't see any kitchens in here."

"And I don't see any suitcases being unpacked in here either." She challenged with her cocky little smile curling at her lips.

"Of course you don't, unpacking in the bathroom would be silly." I shrugged innocently, but I could tell she wasn't moved. As the day kicked off, Santana helped Cassie get all of their things situated and got the house somewhat cleaned while I was supposed to unpack. That was my one task because Santana didn't want me to help clean the house with them and she definitely didn't want me cooking, so I was banished to the bedroom, which on any other day wouldn't be such a bad thing, but unpacking suitcases is extremely boring. Especially when I hate folding clothes and Santana's not in here to distract me by telling me stories or how cute I am concentrating on folding a long sleeve shirt. So at some point, I may or may not have abandoned the suitcases and started playing games on my phone.

"Britt.." She warned when I tried moving my hands over her butt again to get her to quit staring at me like that. "You still have two full suitcases in there, what have you been doing the whole time?"

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know?" I smirked and tried to lean in for a kiss which she pulled away from in the last second. I found myself pouting again at the loss of contact.

"Britt, seriously.." She sighed, "Now we have to take time out some other part of the day to do the unpacking when you could've done it now and got it out of the way." I knew she was right and I knew she wasn't _that_ made at me for not focusing on my task, but just to be sure that we wouldn't be getting a real argument over this, I nodded.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I just- San, you know I hate folding clothes.." I grumbled and finally got her disappointed frown upside down, "But I'm sorry, I'll go finish that so later when can have tons of free time." She wasn't really pinning me against the door anymore, so I was able to slip out from her easily. When I turned to head out of the bathroom, I felt her fingers wrap around my wrist and tug me back. Her eyes were hooded again as she lifted her other hand to grip my hip before rolling up on her tip toes to kiss my lips.

"Well, you're already halfway naked so you might as well take that shower now." She smiled as I felt one hand lie flat against my back and slowly move up until I felt her nudging at my bra clasp again.

"But I'm not half-" Her fingers quickly pulled at the draw string of my pajama pants, the ones that _have_ to be tied or else they fall right off, then looked back up and smirked when my pants pooled at my ankles leaving me in just my bra and panties. "-naked."

"You are now." She winked then cupped my chin again to pull me into one last kiss before turning to leave.

"Hey wait, aren't you going to join me?" I asked when I saw her hand reach the door knob. She looked over her shoulder at me and chuckled.

"If I get in that shower with you, B, neither of us will be getting any cleaner."

"I see no problem with that; I actually prefer it that way." I answered simply as I stepped out from my discarded pants. She laughed sexily again, her eyes scaling up my body unashamedly.

"Yeah, I bet." She teased as she walked back over to me and smoothed her hands over my stomach then around to my back. I shuddered against her and dropped my head on her shoulder at the feel of her touching me. It was when I felt her fingers hit my bra clasp again that my breath hitched. "But, I'm _supposed_ to be cooking." I felt her smirk against my neck as she pressed a few lingering kisses there. I groaned as she pulled her head back enough so that I had to pick my head up too. Then with one swift motion, she finally flicked at the clasp and the bra straps fell down my arms. I watched as she pulled away only to take the bra off of me completely then stared down at my chest while she licked her lips. I was panting again as I watched her stare and as I thought she was going to ravish me like I had been wanting her to for the past 10 minutes, her eyes drifted back up to mine and she rolled up on her toes again to give me a quick kiss on the lips. "Have a nice shower, babe!" She said cheerfully and left the bathroom completely leaving me to stand there with my jaw dropped and my sex throbbing uncontrollably.

"Why did I have to marry such a tease?" I sighed to myself before turning back around to hop in for a nice cold shower.

About an hour and a half later, I was all showered up and unpacked. Well, _almost_ unpacked. This last suitcase had all the gifts I picked up for everyone while I was in California. I was struggling to figure out a place to hide Santana's presents, a few of them weren't actually hers, they were for the baby but I still wanted to show them off so I guess it could be like a present. After cleaning out everyone else's gifts, I decided to stash Santana's in the best hiding spot I know; under the bed. She'd never look under there: one, because I believe she's secretly afraid of dust bunnies, and two, because she's pregnant and she can't even bend over that far without hurting. Content with my hiding spot, I gathered up the other presents and headed out to the living room where Santana and Cassie were trying to get lunch situated.

"Finished?" San asked as I walked over to one of the counters lining the half wall separating the kitchen from the living room.

"Mhm," I hummed as I gently set everything down making sure nothing rolled off the edge of the counter before looking up at her.

"What's all that?" She questioned and jutted her chin out.

"Presents!" I cheered, "Yours isn't over here though, these are for the others."

"Awh, babe, you didn't have to get me anything.." She cooed but I just shrugged.

"Of course I did," I said simply, "I actually got the _both_ of you something, but I'll show you later. How's lunch coming? You guys need any help?"

"Nope, the only thing I need help with is kicking Cassie out of the kitchen." San shot a glare over her shoulder where Cassie was already smirking, "I've been trying to convince her that I can handle things and that she should finish packing, but-"

"Alright, alright, I'm going.." Cassie huffed when San glared at her again. San turned to me with a triumphant smirk as Cassie walked out of the kitchen and headed towards her bedroom.

"Quinn and everyone will be over in about an hour or so." She said as she took a sip of water.

"Oh okay, well if you have everything covered I'll just be over here. Call me if you need me." I leaned over the wall and pressed my lips to hers quickly before walking out to the living room where Mason was playing legos.

"Hi buddy, whatcha doing?"

"Playin legos," He answered simply and stacked another piece on his little tower. I smiled down at him and nodded before stepping over the scattered pieces and sprawled out on the couch. I didn't realize how tired I was until I laid my head back against the arm rest and turned to my side to see what Mason was building. My eyes flicked up at the tv then back down at Mason several times before I started to feel a little motion sick. So with that, I closed my eyes for what was supposed to be a few seconds.

"Britt.." I heard San whisper bringing me back from my slumber. I blinked lazily but still wasn't really all that awake. "Baby, wake up." She said softly and moved her fingers near my forehead, probably sweeping my outgrown bangs aside.

"Hmmkay.." I answered sleepily as I blinked my way back to consciousness. When I finally awoke, I realized that I wasn't alone on the couch. I picked my head up a little and looked down to see Mason curled up down by my legs.

"Have a nice nap?" San asked though a smirk as she sat on the armrest when I moved to sit up. I carefully pulled my legs away from Mason's side of the couch so I wouldn't accidently kick him off, and rested my head back against the couch cushions.

"Mhmm," I hummed and turned my head to look up at her, "How long was I out for?"

"Long enough for Quinn, Bella, and Sam to come over, eat all the food, and miss Cassie going to the airport.." She shrugged casually as she played with her fingers.

"She went home without Mason?" I narrowed my eyes at her playfully, not believing her for a second.

"Huh," she gasped and looked over to him still snoozing, "I guess so." She tried to keep a straight face, but she ended up laughing. "I'd say about 45 minutes."

"Uh-huh, that's what I thought." I winked and pulled her down to sit at my lap rather than on the armrest, the distance was a little much for me when she was just right there.

"Who's clingy now?" She teased as she sat sideways on my lap, her legs extending out on the couch towards Mason but didn't quite reach him since her legs weren't as long as mine. I just rolled my eyes at her and nuzzled against her arm; I can be clingy for a few minutes. She brought her arm around my shoulders while her free hand brushed through my hair. We sat silently just smiling at each other until there was a knock at the front door.

"That must be them." I cheered and waited for San to hop off so that I could answer the door. I bolted over and swung the door open with a toothy smile on my face, "Hi!"

"Britt!" They greeted as the flew at me with hugs, Bella being the first to tighten her arms around my hips.

"Come in, come in." I gestured after the initial greetings were exchanged. Once they came in, Mason was wide awake and Cassie reemerged from her bedroom so that we could get this lunch rolling. We all sat at our usual places at the dining table and dug in. Sam and Quinn went on asking about my trip, but Bella was the most curious. Her questions ranged from what Beyonce was like to what did I eat for breakfast if they didn't serve cereal. They filled me in on what had been going on while I was gone too though. Once Quinn and Cassie did some weird secret code eye contact or something, they were both spewing ideas of a future baby shower. I glanced to my left to see Santana smirking, she wasn't lying when she said they tag teamed her!

"Well, I'm all for it if San is." I shrugged as I felt like they were winding down, "It'll have to be a small thing though, San and I don't like big showy gatherings. Just family and close friends, you know?" Cassie and Quinn nodded furiously as I watched the excitement in the bubble. I looked back over to San who was currently tearing into her third BLT and smiled, "Also, if everything will be run by me or San, if she doesn't like something, I don't like it either so good luck. And make sure there's good food too." Cassie and Quinn laughed at that and agreed to the rules.

After that lunch when by quicker than expected; what I thought was just 20 minutes ended up being a whole hour and we needed to be at the airport soon. So after promising that I'd come visit Quinn sometime this week and giving everyone their little souvenirs I picked up, I helped Cassie with her luggage while San watched after Mason. It was a little sad that I couldn't hang out with Cassie and Mason longer, but something in me said I'd be seeing them more, especially with the baby shower planning officially going underway. Once we got to the furthest point San and I could go without tickets, we said our goodbyes.

"If you ever need anything, you call me." San said sternly as she hugged her sister tightly, "I don't care what time, actually I might but if it's an emergency I'll let it slide, but you call me."

"I know, Santana, I know." She nodded against her shoulder, "Thank you."

"Alright." She said then pulled away and reached for Mason to give him a big hug a sloppy wet kiss on his cheek.

"You can call me too," I offered as I hugged Cassie goodbye, "We're here to help, even if you need to have a tiny vacation, or house is always open for you."

"Thanks Brittany." She hummed as she pulled away. I walked over and gave Mason a last hug and kiss goodbye while San and Cassie said something about calling when she's home and what not. "Well, time to go. Thank you guys for letting us stay, see you soon!" And with that her and Mas disappeared down the hall.

"She won't call." San sighed once we got back to the car. She looked so distraught as she fumbled with her hands. "She'll try to fix things herself, she won't ask for help..even if she really needs it." I glanced over at her and took her hand in mine before squeezing gently.

"Of course she'll call." I smiled reassuringly but San just returned with a weak grin.

_Later That Night;_

"Soo.." San drawled out as she sat at the edge of our bed in her cute red and white striped pajama pants looking like a sexy candy cane. I don't know if sexy was what she was going for, but that's the first thing I thought of when I walked out of the bathroom after brushing my teeth. "Can I see my presents now?"

"Oh, thanks for reminding me!" I exclaimed and quickly sank to my knees in front of her. Her brows rose as I ducked my head lower between her legs.

"I-uhhh-okay." She stuttered just as I reached under the bed and smirked up at her.

"Easy, San, the presents are under the bed, you're legs are in the way." I winked, "But I can pause for a moment and take advantage of this position if you want but I think you'll like the presents more." San just laughed as her cheeks flushed, I couldn't tell whether it was from embarrassment or being turned on but it was still cute. I pulled the box out and set it atop her lap.

"What is it?" She asked hesitantly, but I've been with her long enough to know that she _always_ asks that question. It totally defeats the purpose of a gift if I told her what it was, but I didn't say that. I just smiled at her weird quirk. She flipped the lid of the box and pulled out the first gift, a pair of-

"Are these baby Nikes?" She laughed as she held up the shoes by the string.

"Mhmm," I nodded, "They're not even out in the stores yet, at least that's what Jay Z said."

"Jay Z gave you these?" She asked, shocked.

"Yup! Beyonce picked the color, he picked the style. Cute, right?"

"Yeah, they're cute! That's so crazy they got our baby something," She laughed as she admired the gift. I nodded happily and wiggled up on my knees anxious to see her reaction for the other gift.

"I bought this one, I thought it'd match with the shoes.." I offered as San picked up the little black onesie with a picture of a gold chain around the collar to make it look like they were wearing some bling. San laughed heartedly as she held it up. "I know how you like your gangsta hood rat music so.."

"This is perfect," She grinned and brought my up for a kiss my clasping her fingers around my chin. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, "I smiled into another kiss as I leaned her back against the bed and hovered over her, "I've got another present too." I rasped and pressed my lips into hers once more, "This one is kinda for the both of us."

"Oh?" She quirked a brow, "Let's see it then." I nodded but continued to kiss her, my tongue delving in and rolling around with hers as our kisses turned sloppy. I don't know how long we were lying there getting reacquainted with each other's bodies when I finally felt her whimper into my mouth.

Now would be a good time for the last present, I thought.

"Hold on, baby." I whispered as I pulled back earning a pout. I sank back to my knees and felt around under the bed for the other box and when I did, I quickly brought it out and set it down next to San who was back to sitting up. "There you go." I smiled and nudged the box closer to her.

"What is it?" She asked like she always does. I think it's to the point where she doesn't even know she's saying that anymore, it's like a reflex, it just comes out.

"I don't know, I forgot." I teased.

"Can I eat it?" She asked as she reached for the box.

"Hmm, I suppose you could if you're into that." I shrugged going into some deep thought.

"I hope it's a cupcake."

I laughed, definitely not a cupcake in there, though it _is_ pink and sparkly like a cupcake should be. I watched as her fingers finally flicked off the lid of the box. I watched anxiously as she registered what was there.

"Uhmm.." She hummed out disappointedly then showed me the box, "It's empty?"

My eyes widened as I scrambled up to take a look inside and realized she was right. I freaking forgot to put it inside. Shit.


	9. Chapter 9

"Baby, come on, you can look for it in the morning."

"No, I want you to have it _now_.." I grumbled as I sank back to my knees and felt around for the other suitcase I stuffed under the bed. I must've left it in the wrapping and forgot to transfer it in the gift box, yeah, that's probably what happened!

"Okay, fine." San sighed then playfully propped her feet up on my butt as I practically went head first beneath our bed. "I can't believe you lost my present, Britt, if I wasn't so turned on right now I'd probably be laughing my ass off."

"I didn't lose it," I pouted as my fingertips brushed against the handle of the bag but it was just out of my reach. "It's just misplaced.."

"Yeah, of course." She replied through a breathy chuckle then dragged the heel of her foot up and down my back, pushing up the hem of my tshirt then made it fall back down, "Hm, I wonder what it could be.."

"Nope, no hints."

"Fine then." She huffed and withdrew her feet just as I was pulling out from under the bed with the smaller suitcase in hand. "Oh, it's in there huh?" She questioned as she sat up fully to sneak a peek.

"Hey, hey, lay back down. No peeking!" I shooed her away, my hands hovering over the opening of the suitcase to keep her from seeing past or trying to reach for it. She just laughed and held her hands up in defeat as she lay back down. I sat up on my knees and reached by her side for the gift box so I can make the transfer, for real this time. Once I snuck the gift into its _rightful_ box as sneakily as I could without San seeing, I shut the lid and presented her the gift.

"You sure it's in there this time?" She teased as she sat up fully and quirked her brow up at me.

"Pretty sure" I nodded confidently as I matched the smirk she was donning, "If not, I really don't know how it keeps getting out..I mean, it's not like it's a part of a living thing yet."

"Wait, _yet_?" She questioned as she laid her hands flat against the lid of the box. "What the hell is in here?"

"How about you quit asking and open it up?" I giggled at seeing her cute confused pout. She let out a puff of air, her long bangs rustling to the side, then finally lifted the lid. I watched her facial expression intently as her hands dived into the box.

"Uhm..I'm pretty open to trying different things in bed, but I don't know about this one Britt." She replied skeptically as she lifted the glittery pink collar and fumbled with the clasp. "It might be a tiny bit too kinky for me..but I mean, if you're into it then I guess I could possibly-" I blinked at her rapidly trying to comprehend what she was saying but I couldn't hold myself together any longer and fell over on my side and just burst out laughing. "What the hell? What's so funny?" She questioned confusedly while I was laughing so hard that I couldn't even bring myself to answer just yet because I could hardly breathe!

"Babe, it's not for _you_ to wear.." I giggled after finally catching my breath then flicked a stray tear from my eye. "Man, I forgot how funny you are," I sighed lovingly as I rolled over to my side and propped my head up on my hand. She tilted her head to the side with her eyes all narrowed then licked her lips and stared straight at me with this dumbfounded look.

"Wait, what?" She deadpanned and looked down at her lap where she was still fiddling with the collar still. "You don't want me to where this?"

"Uhm..no, not really." I answered simply, my lips forming a tight smile, "Unless you _want_ to..but really, it's not for you. Well, I mean, it's _for_ you, well us, but it's not for you to, y'know, wear.." She stared at me for a long second before her lips parted like she was going to say something, but she shut them tight again as her brows furrowed in deep thought. It was adorable.

"You look like a fish." I grinned when she did that _okay I know what to say wait no I don't_ thing with her lips again. She looked to me and pouted cutely as she dropped back on her forearms, letting the collar rest on the round of her belly like a shiny glittery pink crown.

"So if it's not for me to wear-"

"Unless you're into that."

"-who is it for?"

Suddenly I became really shy, I don't know why, and it became really hard keeping eye contact with her. My fingers found their own ways to the loose threads in our bed spread as I hummed for an answer.

"Holy crap, don't tell me it's for _you_ to wear.." She blurted as she ducked down to find my eyes. That nervousness I felt disappeared long enough for me to look up at her and laugh. I'm starting to believe she has some type of fetish.

"No, it's not for any of us to wear." I laughed then slowly built up the confidence to keep going. I sucked in a shaky breath and exhaled, "It's –uhm- It's for a puppy.." Everything got really quiet, even the heater switched off making it so there wasn't any background noise either! I hadn't looked up at her when I finally said something; I just kept my focus on my hands and the bed sheet. What probably was only a minute passing felt like an hour of silence and slowly I began to feel like maybe this was a bad idea, but then she spoke.

"A puppy, huh?" She asked, her voice free of anything sounding close to anger. The welcoming tone lifted my spirits enough to break my concentration on pulling at the loose threads and look up.

"Yeah.." I answered as I stared back at deep brown eyes, "When I was in L.A. I went to dinner one time at Beyonce's house and she told me how her and Jay, he said I can call him that since I'm _cool people_ , got Blue Ivy a tiny dog so she's got someone to play with, like a sibling but not in human form. Though I _do_ think animals are people too, but you know what I mean. Anyway, I thought it was a good idea, having a family pet and stuff for the kids to grow up with. And I don't know, I saw this collar at one of those fancy boutiques there when I was trying to find you something nice and I thought it was so cute, I just had to buy it! I know how you feel about pink and all, but I think you can make an exception for this, right?" I rambled and watched as San's facial expressions changed from looking confused to looking amused then to looking like she was staring at the greatest person in the world. "I-I know you don't particularly like cats either, so I don't know, a puppy is the next best thing." I waited patiently for her to say something, anything, but she just remained watching me with that same amused smirk on her face.

"So.." She drawled out after a few more minutes of just staring, "A puppy?"

"Yeah, San, a puppy.." I nodded confidently, "Just think how our little boy would look all cuddled up with a fluffy puppy! They'd be so cute."

"Hmm..that _would_ be pretty adorable." She sighed happily as she lay back down and placed her hands at the sides of her belly where the collar was still resting atop. "But I don't know, Britt, our lives can get pretty hectic. Do we have time to take care of a puppy _and_ a newborn?" She had a good point; a puppy would be a lot of work because of potty training and all that good stuff and to add that to taking care of our son too? That would be tough.

"I guess I didn't really think of it like that," I replied as I went back to plucking at threads, "But if we get it now, or maybe sometime in the next few weeks I could totally train him or her and they'll be all set by the time the baby comes!" She stayed staring at me again, her facial expression a mixture of being amused and smitten. For some reason I felt really sad about San not being as excited as I was about possibly getting a dog. I knew I should've thought it out more before approaching her about it, or maybe I should've just taken her with me to the pound because I know for a fact she couldn't say no to both me _and_ a cute puppy pouting at her at the same time.

"It's a good plan, B, but I don't know," She added, brushing her fingertips beneath my chin and tilted it up. "I think we've got a lot on our plate right now." She leaned in and pressed her lips softly into mine causing me to smile. "I'd love for our son to have a pet; I always wanted one when I was little but my mom never let me and Cassie have one so I'm open to it but I don't know, just not right now."

"Oh, you poor deprived child." I teased and rolled up on my elbows so that I was hovering over her, "So is that a _not right now_ as in we can swing by the pound in the morning or as in right after sexy ti-" She cut off my ramblings with quick pecks littering my cheeks until I was giggling.

"We'll see," She winked as her fingers dipped into my pajama shorts and tugged a little. "We can talk more about later, I think we've got some other _unfinished_ business to attend to." Then before I could further my teasing, I was being rolled over and straddled.

_End of April;_

"Brittany!" I heard my name being called in San's sing songy voice from somewhere in the living room. I stayed still for a second longer; if she calls for me again then that means-"Britt!"- it's important. I let out a deep sigh and reluctantly kicked off the blankets from around my legs and slowly made my way to her. With one balled up fist rubbing away the sleep from my eye, I looked around to see the tv on but no one sitting on the couch. As soon as I heard the clinking of pans, I spun around and headed for the kitchen instead. Tucking a frizzy lock behind my ear, I poked my head around the corner to find San hovering over the stove with a spatula in one hand and the pan handle in the other. My head throbbed at the sounds and a little from being awake way before I should be, but I pushed past it and came fully around from the fridge.

"Oh you're awake!" She chirped and leaned over to kiss my cheek happily, "Good morning." I cringed at how loud she was being and tightly closed my eyes as I rested my head back against the freezer door.

"Morning to you too," I mumbled tiredly, still keeping my eyes closed because the light was beginning to add to the throbbing in my head. She continued to hum as she went on cooking. "Uhm, is there a reason you called for me?" I asked, tilting my head over to peek at her with one eye open. "Is everything okay?"

"Mhm, I was just seeing if you were awake.." She shrugged innocently as she kept her focus on the stove. I tightly shut my eyes again, trying to keep from groaning out because I'm feeling crappy still and San called me over for no reason.

"Huh, well is there a reason why _you're_ awake at," I glanced over at the digital clock on the microwave, "4:57 in the morning cooking," I glanced down at what she was making, "Grilled cheese?" She looked back to me and down at the pan then frowned.

"I got hungry.." She pouted and flopped the golden brown sandwich out on a plate then looked back at me with this guilty look. "You still have that migraine, don't you?"

"Maybe.." I grumbled with my eyes shutting again.

"I'm sorry for waking you up, baby, come on." She sighed and leaned over to brush her cool fingers along my cheek before she hooked her arm with mine, "Me and you and this tasty grilled cheese should get back to bed."

"That'd be lovely." I sighed and tightened my hold on her arm as I nuzzled against her shoulder and let her lead me back to our bedroom.

"Here hold my grilled cheese, I'm going to get you some more medicine." She said as she flipped open the comforter on my side and motioned for me to wiggle under before setting her plate in my lap, "We've got make sure you're feeling better before it's time for the baby shower."

And that's when it clicked why San was up so early; she was excited. I set the plate on my stomach, smirking because San's spent weeks saying she was _not_ looking forward to this even though I knew she was. I just needed some proof and her being up before even _I_ roll out of bed was just what I needed.

"Here we go, got some Tylenol." She whispered and raised the bottle in the air to show me as she walked over. She perched herself on the edge of the bed right next to my hip and tapped a couple pills out into the palm of her hand before handing them off to me and reaching for the glass of water she brought to me last night.

"Thanks," I mumbled and shot the pills back before washing them down with a couple gulps of water. She ducked her head bashfully in reply before making her way around the bed and shuffled in next to me, attempting to fluff my pillow. "How's taking care of me for a change?"

"Nice," she smirked as she tucked a few fallen strands of hair behind my ear and motioned for me to lay back, "You should let me do it more often." I let out a breathy chuckle at that as she swiped her plate from resting on my stomach and began nibbling at her sandwich. I rolled over to my side and faced her, watching her jaw bounce as she chewed slowly.

"You know, for someone so hungry they couldn't wait just a couple more hours to have breakfast, you sure are eating slow." I teased lowly knowing the volume of my own voice would probably irate my headache. Her jaw stopped and she tilted her head down to smile at me, "It's almost like you're up for a whole other reason..hmmm, like you're excited or something."

"And for someone who's got a killer migraine going right now, you sure are talking a lot." She smirked and took one more big bite. I snickered again before sliding down further beneath the covers and nuzzling into San's side. "Okay, maybe I am..just a little bit," She muttered after a long pause causing me to smile.

"I knew it," I mumbled happily as I flattened my hand against the side of San's belly before curling my arm around her waist, "I'm excited too." She just bent down and kissed the top of my head then grazed her fingertips along my shoulder blades until I fell back asleep.

_Later that afternoon;_

"Jenna, I want this place locked down tight. If you've never seen them before, they're most likely not invited and if by some chance in hell one of those persistent bastards wanders their way in, don't let me find out because if I do I will go on a fucking firing spree. Got it?" I watched as Santana crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side and waited for Jenna's response. Quinn and Cassie decided to rent out a small space to hold the shower, at first we were considering using our apartment, but we didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of cleaning up. During the pregnancy we've been pretty good at keeping to ourselves, only letting the paparazzi know what we want them to know, which is nothing, and it's worked well for us so far. However, we're not trying to slip up so close to the due date especially when we want today to be as stress free as possible and with the new team San's hired ever since my whole sex tape situation our privacy has been kept extremely well.

"Yes, I understand. I'm on it." Jenna answered confidently with the nod of her head. San gave her tight smile then turned away from her to catch me leaning against the wall behind her with my arms folded and brow quirked.

"Here." She sighed pulling out a five dollar bill from her boobs and held it to me, "That's for the F-bomb, I know that one costs more." I laughed and swiped the bill from her hand only to tuck it back in her bra before leaning in to kiss her.

"I'll let that one slide for today," I winked and intertwined our fingers, "Now if you're done intimidating everyone; we've got a shower to get back to!"

"You sure you're feeling up to it? No more migraine?" She asked but it seemed as if it was _her_ who wasn't feeling up to going back to the party.

"I'm sure, honey, are you?" I questioned but she just sighed and smiled. "Well, let's do this then!" She giggled and let me tug her in the direction of party room where everyone was already socializing. You'd think that from how she was acting this morning, all giddy and anxious because today was the party, she didn't really stay put at the actual party very long. This is the third time I've found her wandering around the halls or repeating instructions to Jenna and this is the fourth time I've tried bringing her back to the party; I was beginning to think she wasn't comfortable.

"You know, babe, if you don't want to stay for the gifts and games and all that we can just go home..we don't have to stay." I suggested just as we were about to enter the party room. We were just barely out of sight so no one was calling for us to join them or answer some random questions. San ran her hands over her belly and let her brows furrow as she looked through the doors then back up at me.

"No, no, I want to stay." She protested then bit nibbled on her bottom lip, "It's just, I don't know. It's kind of overwhelming being in there.." I looked over my shoulder at the large gathering of our family and close friends then back down at San who looked so nervous.

"How so?" I asked hesitantly, motioning for her to take a seat on the arm chair near the wall just outside of the double doors leading into the room. She took the seat and slumped back against the cushions, her hands running up to overlap on her tummy.

"I don't know, I just do." She shrugged, "I know I do it all the time with having to talk in front of big crowds and doing talk shows and what not, but all those people in there asking me all these questions about the baby and me and you and it just gets to be too much, you know? I just needed some air, get myself back together.." I knelt down and placed my hands flat against her thighs and slid down to squeeze gently at her knees before smiling up at her.

"I totally get it," I nodded while my thumbs caressed the sides of her knees, "I'll try to take some of the attention off of you, see if I can answer more questions so it's not like they're all targeting you, okay?" She smiled and nodded weakly, "Should I go talk to Quinn and Cassie about this? Make sure everyone keeps calm around you so you don't feel so anxious?"

"No, that's okay I'm fine." She said shaking her head then reached down to grasp my hands and used me as leverage to pull her body upright. "You're so good to me, B." I smiled bashfully as she brought my hands up to her lips and kissed my knuckles before placing the back of my hand flush against her cheek, "Let's get back to this party."

About another hour and a half in to the baby shower, San seemed to settle down quite a bit. Cassie and Quinn managed to bring in this oversized arm chair that could totally fit San and I both if she didn't keep either Mason or Bella wedged in next to her while they started off playing the classic baby shower games. There was such a good vibe in the room as we slowly transitioned from game to game, but it wasn't until we got to the dirty diaper game when things got real.

Everyone sat in a big circle around San while I stayed perched on the arm of her chair watching everyone as they passed various _dirty_ diapers. The whole point of the game was to guess what kind of melted candy bar was stuffed inside the diaper and whoever got most of them right won. It's kind of disgusting when you think about it, because really, you're inspecting pretend baby poop.

It just so happened that San's been craving chocolate all day so as these dirty diapers pass her, I watch as she gets that mischievous glint in her eyes before she stares down in the diaper.

"Don't even." I warned, poking at her arm to jolt her out of the chocolate loving haze she was being drawn into. She looked up at me, fluttering her eyelashes, then smiled super sweetly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied haughtily and jot down her guess before passing it on. I narrowed my eyes playfully at her before reaching for the diaper Bryce was passing me then placed it down on San's lap.

"That's gross." I commented as I watched her do the same thing with the next diaper. She looked up from the melted chocolate guiltily then pouted.

"It just smells _so_ good, B." She groaned then stared back down at the heap of what looked to be a melted Reese's cup before licking her lips, "I bet it tastes even bet-"

"Hey! That's cheating!" Bryce yelled and pointed a finger at San as she lifted the diaper to her face like she was about to take a lick while I just slapped a hand to mine and shook my head. "Ya'll better get her! I _will_ win at least one of these games, I'm not leaving until I do!" Leave it to my wife to try and _eat_ what's inside the play dirty diapers.

"Calm down, crazy, you'll get your chance." I laughed, "Where's Kenzie when you need her?" I joked but I could tell this was one of those visits where something just had to be going wrong in their friendship because Bryce practically cringed at hearing her name.

"I'm not going to eat it.." San protested with the roll of her eyes trying to bring the attention back to her, probably seeing the same reaction I saw out of Bryce, "I'm just _looking,_ geez." I eyed her wearily then leaned back where Quinn was standing behind me and gestured of her to come closer.

"Can you bring us the extra chocolate bars? I think she's about to start eating out of diapers." I whispered and Quinn just tried not to laugh before nodding and walking off.

"Heard that.." San grumbled as she handed off another diaper, "I'm not a going to eat out of diaper, that's disgusting."

"And unsanitary." I added teasingly as I scooted down a little so that I could run my hand between her shoulder blades. She looked over her shoulder at me and rolled her eyes but couldn't keep the smile from curling at her lips because she and I both know she was at least thinking about doing it.

Minutes later, Quinn reappeared with a bag of Snickers and all was right in San's world again.

After a couple more games, and Bryce _finally_ winning something, everyone sat around San and I as we opened more of our gifts. To say that this baby will be the best dressed kid in the world might be a little biased coming from me, but man does he have a lot of clothes! I'm actually almost positive he's got more outfits than San and I put together and that is a _lot_ of outfits. Over the past few weeks the want to go out and buy all these baby supplies got really bad, but Quinn kept telling us that we should just wait till after the shower and I could totally see why; we've got just about everything we could possibly want! My parents bought us a really nice crib, at least that's how it looked on the box since it wasn't assembled yet, Quinn and Sam got us this super heavy duty stroller that could probably go off roading if we wanted to, and San's parents got us this really nice handmade rocking chair, which was actually already at our house, assembled and all.

"So names.." My mom asked as she clapped her hands together impatiently and smiled, "Have you guys decided on any yet?" Heads whipped around to face us, all anxiously awaiting an answer, while San and I just looked to each other and shrugged.

"Not really, no." San answered, "Nothing's really jumped out at us yet."

"Yeah, I think when the time is right, the name will come." I added as San overlapped my hand with the both of hers and tugged it to her lap as she nodded along with me. I could feel everyone staring at us as we got lost in our own little world for a moment until San broke her gaze and looked to my mom.

"However, we both really like Luke as maybe a middle name or something." San smirked, scrunching her nose at me cutely before turning back to face our audience.

"Oh, we do?" I gasped, matching her smirk and looked to everyone, "The last time I brought that name up, she laughed at me."

"What? I did not!" San protested, hand shooting up to grasp her heart. "I thought it was cute."

"Wait a sec, does this have to do with your Star War fetish?" Bryce smirked causing Cassie to laugh loudly.

"I do not have a fetish." I replied matter of factly, "I haven't even _seen_ Star Wars."

"This is true, she loses interest in the first like five minutes." Quinn confirmed as San nodded too.

"How can you get married on Star Wars day and never even seen the movie? I don't understand." Bryce shook her head then nodded over to Bella, "I feel like you had something to do with this."

"Nope, I just like saying _May the fourth be with you_!" Bella grinned happily before running off to play with Mason next to Cassie's chair.

"My point exactly." Bryce sighed, bringing her hand up to knead at her brows tiredly.

"So Luke, huh?" Gloria smiled, "I like it, it's biblical."

"Mom.." San sighed tiredly, "We're not all that religious so that's not really what we were-"

"But it also carries a lot of other meanings too, like this Star Wars thing." Gloria quickly recovered making San's frown curve into a smile, "Skywater, right? That's his famous last name? And Voldemort is the father or something, right?"

"Did she say _Skywater_?" Quinn deadpanned and looked to Bryce who was already staring wide eyed at San's mom.

"Did she say _Voldemort_?" Bryce asked clearly confused, but I was quick to peg her with a balled up clump of wrapping paper.

"It's _He Who Shall Not Be Named_!" I corrected in a huff, "And _you_ just named him, good job. Now all the dementors are going to crash the party and there clearly isn't enough room for them." Bryce stuck her tongue out at me and tried throwing the wrapper back but missed completely.

"Or food." Quinn teased and nodded over to San who was blissfully picking at her third, or maybe fourth, slice of cake.

"Hey, leave her alone. She likes the cake." I defended and leaned over to press a kiss to the top of San's head, who turned to smile up at me in return.

"Well speaking of weddings, I believe your first anniversary is just around the corner!" My mom added trying to change the subject and keep from Bryce and I from breaking out in a fight, "You guys planning anything special?"

"Well, I was trying to have a mini vacation, maybe fly out to the west coast or something, but B's not cool with me flying right now." San answered and shot me a playful glare as she ran her hands over her stomach for emphasize before reaching back over for her plate of cake.

"Yeah, no flying for her, not when there's a baby about to pop out of there in the next couple of months." I confirmed confidently, "I'm sure we can find something equally special to do in town though, we can get creative."

The conversation slowly transpired into reminiscing about the wedding, which Gloria wasn't really comfortable with since we weren't exactly on good terms with San's parents at the time. To this day, we still have no idea what Cassie said to them to make them change their minds about San and I being together and something tells me we never will, but I'm forever grateful that it happened. I couldn't imagine San not being able to speak to her family just because of something stupid I did years before, I don't know how I'd live with myself knowing that I was the reason for it, even if San would swear up and down that I wasn't.

Everyone chatted idly; asking about San's past doctor appointments, cravings, symptoms, and how she's been handling work while Kurt and I started to help Quinn and Cassie clean up a little. I was a little hesitant about leaving San surrounded by all our family and friends since she's been having those anxiety attacks earlier, but she gave the subtle nod that told me she'd be fine. Besides, it's not like I'm leaving the building, just the room, but I still can't help worrying about her.

"You think it'll take two cars to get all this stuff back to yours?" Quinn questioned as we stared down at all the gifts given to San and I. I took note of the huge baby crib box and the size of the stroller, even though it was collapsible, and nodded.

"Yeah, most likely." I answered, "We took the SUV so we can stick the big stuff in ours."

"And I've got Sam's Jeep so the rest will be able to fit in there." She added then poked her head in the little kitchen separated by the dividing wall, "Kurt, since you're the only guy here, you mind giving us a hand with this box?"

"Of course!" Kurt answered happily and began rolling up the sleeves of his white dress shirt.

"I'll go get Bryce too, I think Cassie's watching Mas and Bella." I quickly walked back over to where San and the others were lounging and gestured for Bryce to come over after sending a wink towards San when she grinned at me. "Can you help us move some stuff to the cars?" I asked once Bryce had walked over, "You kind of look like you need to relieve some tension."

"And what would moving baby stuff have to do with that?" Bryce scoffed and folded her arms over her chest defensively. I laughed at her trying to be all tough but she always sucked at hiding her feelings.

"Just come on," I sighed and hooked my arm with hers so there wasn't really anywhere for her to go.

We had successfully moved the stroller and crib to our SUV and now we were on to carrying the tons of gift bags and boxes to Quinn's.

"So you wanna talk about it?" I asked, gently poking Bryce's arm with my elbow as we walked side by side towards the Jeep. Bryce just rolled her eyes and shook her blonde hair.

"There's not really much to talk about." Bryce shrugged as we neared the opened trunk.

"She was invited you know." I replied, looking over at my little sister.

"Yeah, I know." She answered as she set her box down neatly next to a bright blue gift bag. " She was going to go, but you know, things came up." I followed her and set down my bags next to Bryce's box then sat down on the tailgate and gestured for her to sit next to me.

"Like what?"

"Oh, you know, the usual stuff." Bryce sighed sadly, "Shit happens, people change." I looked down at my feet swaying beneath me and contemplated whether or not I should scold her for cursing but decided that now wasn't really the time. "Things have been kind of weird for awhile now, I don't know why, I don't know if it was me or if it was her, but it just was and then one day she just stopped everything."

"Sounds like you guys are dating." I joked lightly not liking the hurt I was hearing in her voice. She laughed bitterly and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Sometimes I feel like we are, everyone else is just a cover up." She said shaking her head as she picked at the material of her jeans, "You know she couldn't even do it to my face? She freaking _texted_ me tell me all this crap that I didn't understand. It's just, it's so damn stupid."

"That's love, sis." I sighed and set a hand on her shoulder then pulled her to my side and hugged her. "It's all just one big crazy mess."

"That sucks." She deadpanned, "Whoever said _with feelings it's better_ obviously never had to go through all this confusion."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure they did." I chuckled, "Things will get better, Bryce, the girl loves you. She can't just leave you like that, she'll be back, just watch. Who knows, maybe she's just scared of all the feelings and doesn't know how to handle them?" I replied confidently and gave her another tight squeeze but it didn't seem to convince her.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be so sure."

_Later that night;_

"I always love getting clean." San sighed contently as she laid back against the wall of our bath tub letting the water droplets roll down her tanned arms while the bubbles clouded around her.

"You sound like a drug addict." I smirked as I dropped my fluffy white rob and carefully slid in behind her. She shuffled forward a bit to make room before settling back against me, her hands running down from the top of my knees to my shins.

"Whatever," She giggled and tilted her head up at me to kiss my jaw.

"I love bath time too." I grinned and smoothed my hands over the round of her belly, "Especially when it's with you." I watched as her cheeks tinted a deep shade of pink and she tried to play off her blushing by laughing.

"Why? Is it your _happy place_?" She teased but I just ducked down a little so I could rest my chin on her shoulder.

"Of course it is." I answered sweetly then added, "Anywhere I am with you is a happy place."

"Alright, what do you want? You're killing me with the sweet talk, babe, I might just throw up in the water if you continue this." She laughed and shuffled around a little making water slush about in the tub as she tried to look at me.

"If you do, I'm getting out because that's gross." I deadpanned but my straight face wavered as she continued to stare at me like she wasn't getting the full story or something. I held her gaze though, squinting my eyes trying to get her to look away first or laugh, but she always won at that. "Okay, fine..there's something."

"Knew it." She smirked triumphantly, "If there's a puppy hiding somewhere in the closet, we're going to have a problem because I recall saying we'd talking about it _later_."

"And it _is_ later!" I huffed, "But no, there isn't a puppy in there," I answered through a chuckle, "And even if there was, I'm not about kicking anyone out of closets so they could stay in there however long they want to." San just shook her head but smiled anyway. "So, how are you?"

"Get to it, Britt, the suspense is killing me."

"Okay, okay!" I laughed nervously, "So..I'm sure you know that next week is our anniversary.."

"Mhmmm.."

"Well, did you want to do anything special?"

"Uhm, I _did_ but you kind of shot me down." San answered then narrowed her eyes on me skeptically, "Why?"

"So you still took those days off though?" I asked without answering her question.

"Yeah?" She replied shakily with her eyes still narrowed, "What have you got planning in there?"

I grinned devilishly before pressing a kiss to her cheek, "You'll see, babe, you'll see."


	10. Chapter 10

" _Pssst.._ San? _"_

"Mmrph.."

" _Pssssst.._ wake up."

"Mm..too early."

"That's the point, we've got to beat the traffic if we wanna get there on time.."

"Mm-mm, sleepy."

I stifled a defeated sigh as San burrowed further into my side then tangled her legs with mine signaling she was not budging from this position anytime soon. I couldn't really understand why she was still sleepy when that was my third time trying to wake her up in the last hour. I let her sleep while I woke up extra early, really it was only 30 minutes earlier than usual, so that I could pack the SUV _and_ pick up some breakfast for her when she's ready, but she's _still_ not having it.

"Fine," I sighed shaking my head at her cute little muffled snores as she tightened her arm around my waist, "You get 15 more minutes and that's it; I'll throw you over my shoulder and carry you out if I have to."

15 minutes ended up being 30 because at some point between scrolling through San's Twitter feed laughing at all the crazy things fans were saying about her and those circular patterns I was drawing on her belly, I fell asleep.

"Britt, you awake?" I heard San ask, her voice still thick with sleep.

"Mmm..mhm." I hummed and began blinking away the blurriness until I was able to focus down on a brightly smiling Santana. I quirked my brow up at her as I rubbed my eyes with a balled fist while she continued to grin up affectionately. "What? Is my hair sticking up?" I giggled groggily and started trying to pat down any fly aways, but she just laughed and shook her head.

"Come here." She beckoned me with her finger, causing me to follow her as she rolled over on her back and smirked.

"Yes my dea-" I couldn't even get the last word out before she was lacing her fingers through my hair and tugging me to her lips, crashing into mine and moved with such practice like kissing me was the simplest thing in the world, the easiest, she could do it in her sleep; which she totally has done by the way.

"Happy Anniversary." She mumbled as she pulled away from the deep kiss far enough so I could stare into dark brown orbs, cheeks all bunched as she smiled then leaned in for another quick peck.

"Happy Anniversary too." I giggled, brushing away her bangs from her eyes, then wiggled down to press a kiss to her tummy just in time to feel a tiny little nudge against her skin, "Oh, and good morning to you too." I teased as I smoothed my hands over her belly reveling in the feel of our son bouncing around in his squishy waterbed. We shared a soft smile as we watched the movements, her hands moving to overlap mine as I kept my hands on her stomach feeling the delicate greetings from our boy.

After getting San freshly showered and dressed, we were both having a quick breakfast, which for the first time was actual food and not the _other_ kind of breakfast. It was equally satisfying though. Once we double checked that I hadn't left anything behind accidently, the two of us were heading out to the car. At first I thought she was being strangely quiet because it was still kind of early for her, but once we got into the car, I realized she was just prepping her string of questions for me.

"So where are we going?"

"I told you already, I'm not telling."

"Why not?"

"Because it won't be a surprise anymore."

"I can pretend to be surprised.."

I cut my eyes to her, trying my hardest not to smile but the way she was nibbling on her slushie straw, head tilted to me slightly and batting her eyelashes innocently was just too cute to resist. My lips parted as if I was actually going to tell her, but I quickly sighed instead and reached over to entwine our hands.

"Still not telling." I replied and focused back on the road ahead trying to remember the next turn I had to make. San huffed playfully but still kept my hand in hers as she set them on her lap and looked out the window.

The first 30 minutes went perfectly: we sang along with the radio, there weren't any more questions, I didn't get lost trying to leave the city, and on top of that, San shared her pineapple slices with me. San never shares her pineapple slices with me! Overall, I thought the trip was shaping up to be an awesome one.

That is until San started getting car sick, bad.

"I'm so sorry, baby, I should've packed some Dramamine." I sighed, dragging her hair into a sloppy looking ponytail as she bent over on the side of the road and heaved, "I didn't know you'd get sick so easily.."

"It's okay, I'm fine." She grumbled before gagging again, "I think I'm just not used to being in the car for longer than 30 minutes." I nodded with a frown and continued to rub at her back as she let it all out in the grassy ditch.

"Still..I feel bad. I thought driving somewhere would be better than flying." I pouted guiltily, "Maybe we should've walked instead.."

"Uhm, I am not taking more than 10 steps anywhere." She teased after spitting out whatever that orangey yellow stuff was, "But seriously, B, don't feel bad. We can't control this and as long as there's no reporters hiding out somewhere in those bushes, we'll be fine." I nodded, frown slowly disappearing as she gave me a genuine grin, before passing her a bottle of water which she drank in greatly before casting her eyes slowly at our surroundings. "However, if there are reporters hiding out in those bushes," She began, clearly addressing said reporters, "I will be highly upset if any of those pictures hit the internet and I will personally, seven months preggers and all, find out where each and every one of you live and have someone come cut your cable wires. Then once you get them all nice and fixed, after waiting for three days for someone to come out and redo them, I'll do it again and again and again. It won't be pretty so believe me, I'll ,make you hurt, so you don't want to mess with me right now."

"Yeah!" I fired out, San's little threat to an invisible audience working me up.

"Also, Brittz here is packing an umbrella and it's not a little dinky one that you press a button and it pops out. This one has the curled wooden handle and everything, perfect for cracking skulls."

"And it's made in China so you know it's legit!" I added, shaking a fist at the shrubbery San was glaring at before my attention was brought back to her staring at me with furrowed brows and head tilted. "What? It is! Do you want me to take it out and show you the little sticker? And don't call my pop out umbrella dinky, it's cheetah print!"

San just laughed and shook her head before having me crawl back into the car so she could brush her teeth really quick then we could get back on the road.

"God, B, how much longer.." San groaned as she tightly closed her eyes and rested her head back against her headrest while her hand clamped over her mouth. I glanced over at her, the guilty feeling coming back to haunt me, before checking the GPS.

"Not that much longer, baby, just 45 more minutes I think." I replied, reaching over to squeeze on her hand a little, "I'll make it up to you when we get there, okay? I'll make some chicken noodle soup or something, whatever you want." She whimpered softly then rolled her head to stare back at me with a pout on her lips.

"And where would that be?"

"When we get to the-" I rambled out until I realized what she just asked and cut my eyes at her, squinting them while she just smiled smugly, "I see what you did there, not fooling me!" She snorted and rolled her head back over to lean against the window, her smug smile disappearing.

We had left the city and crossed into New Jersey about an hour ago and was now taking this winding road through some Narnia looking forest which was cool because the scenery was so different from what we were used to seeing in New York. San didn't really enjoy it as much as I did though because staring at the passing trees just made her feel even sicker so she took a nap instead to pass the rest of the time. I'll just be sure to pick up some medicine for the ride home so she can stay up with me next time.

"Hey babe," I whispered, nudging San's shoulder a little after putting the car in park, "We're here." She rolled over to face me, slowly blinking away the sleep from her eyes, then let out a soft yawn before letting her eyes wander around her new surroundings.

"Wow, where are we?" She asked as I carefully helped her out of the car.

"Technically, we're in New Jersey." I answered as we turned to face the small wooden cabin nestled under tall pine trees. "My parents used to rent out a couple little cabins like these before my sister was born then they sold them off because they didn't have the time for keeping them up or something. This is the only one they kept, it's my most liked too!" She just stared off at the house in amazement.

Most of the cabins my parents used to rent out where near the beach, but this was the only one hidden up in the mountains. There wasn't another house within miles, and though that could be a bad thing if we happen to be out of sugar and need to borrow some, it was perfect for us because we didn't have to worry about anyone creeping on our private time.

This cabin happened to be my most liked because I always thought it had the best of all nature; lots of trees to hide us but not enough to block out the sunlight, a winding river that wrapped around the backyard then merged into a lake a little ways down, a low waterfall just in front of the back patio, and a beautiful view of the mountains. Even the weather up here was the best! It's always just the right temperature; not too hot where you don't want to go outside and not too cold where you just want to roll into a ball and shiver. The mornings are crisp and cool, the afternoons warm and sunny, and the nights bring back the coolness of the morning. It's like you've got all four seasons in one day except it doesn't snow, you'd have to go higher up the mountains for that, and the leaves don't change colors.

San griped my hand tighter as she gazed at the water rushing over dull edged rocks that must've been worn down by the waterfall then looked up at me and smiled.

"This is beautiful, Britt." She grinned and brought up my hand to kiss the back of it. I felt my cheeks flush at the gesture as I nodded towards the cabin.

"Wanna check out the inside?"

"Damn, your parents can decorate!" San laughed as I led her through the kitchen into the living room, "Everything is so..coordinated."

"And they have many hours of watching DIY to thank for that!" I teased while she took a look around the open living room, "Here, let me give you the grand tour." She smiled over her shoulder at me then spun around and took my hand so I could lead her around. I pointed to the giant stone faced fireplace set between two long windows that gave a clear view of the mountains, the high ceiling and the spiral stair case, hard wood flooring, decked out kitchen with all stainless steel appliances including a well stocked fridge and pantry, the two down stairs bathrooms both with stand up showers, and then the small study which she was not allowed into with anything work related. San followed behind aimlessly, staring in awe at how beautifully decorated each space was.

After giving the full tour of the downstairs, I led the way to the spirally stairs, letting San go up first because of this awful scenario that popped up in my head of her missing a step or slipping and no one being down there to catch her. At least with me trailing behind her she'd have someone to break her fall.

"This is a guest room, there's three but one's turned into the study that you saw downstairs." I said as I opened up the first door down the long hall that over looked the downstairs living room. Inside was a full bed with light blue sheets, a small dark brown dresser with a matching night stand. The walls were painted cream and the shaggy carpet was light beige that felt really soft on your feet.

The next door was another bathroom; this one's color scheme being a mixture of greens and browns. You can definitely tell my mom was into natural colors when she was decorating up here, because the next door was the last guest room which was decorated similarly to the first room but instead of the bed sheets being a light blue, these were a dull shade of green.

"It's like every room in this house has an excellent view, I love it." San grinned as she looked around the room, staring through the window.

"Oh, if you think those views are great," I laughed and tugged her towards the master bedroom, "Check this out." I pushed open the double doors of the room to reveal a space that had the best view in the whole house. It was sort of set up on the corner of the house but instead of blocking off a wall to make a flat edge, it opened up to an outdoor balcony. Against the far wall was a king size bed set high off the ground and off of either sides were modern style light brown wood night stands each with their own lamp. Across was a vanity made of the same material as the night stands, actually all furniture in the room matched the night stands. Next to the master bathroom was the giant walk in closet complete with a three sided mirror so you could see all yourself in different perspectives. "So this is where we'll be staying.."

"Holy crap, Britt, I think I'm in love." San gasped as she took a look around the room. I leaned against the door frame smiling smugly as she ran her fingers along the softness of the comforter then took a seat. "I think this bed is better than ours!"

"Well, it's new so it probably is." I laughed and closed the distance to her, kissing her forehead, while she slipped her hands into mine again. "Wanna see the balcony?" She nodded, smiling growing with anticipation, then let me lead her towards the French doors. It wasn't really _that_ big of a balcony, but I still thought it was really cool because of the little iron two seater table set up in the corner, perfect for sipping coffee in the mornings, when San's allowed to have coffee again, or reading some magazines. Plus the view really wasn't that bad from up here, you could see the lake perfectly from this height and the mountains lined the horizon just made the picture even nicer.

"Wow." San breathed, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared out.

"Nice, huh?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her waist, "The sun comes up on this side of the house, but the room is set up with those cool curtains that block out sunlight, so you don't have to worry about being woken up!"

"We need to invest in some of those at our house." San smirked, resting her head on my shoulder. "Well, this definitely puts my present to shame."

"Hey, we agreed that this wasn't a competition." I laughed, peering down at the gurgling river below.

"I don't remember ever agreeing to that," She teased as I felt her hands fiddlein her hoodie pocket, "And you _know_ how competitive I am.."

"Exactly," I sighed, throwing my head back to stare up at clouds, "Which is why-"

I felt her cool fingers seeking my hand and a velvety soft box being placed into my palm. I tore my eyes away from the sky to stare down at her, my brows raised at what was there.

"Uhm..what's this?"

"Go ahead, open it." She grinned, jutting her chin towards my hand holding the box. I slowly flicked open the case to reveal a shiny silver charm that was the outline of a heart. Along the left side, there were three gems each a different color: red, orange, and yellow.

"Oh wow, San.." I gasped as I brought the box closer to my eyes, afraid to take it out of the case in fear of losing it already. As I twirled it in my fingers, the sunlight caught the pendent making it sparkle and shine.

"You like?" She asked softly, sidling up next to me so that her arms could wrap around my hips, "I had our fav jeweler whip it up, it's one of a kind! Do you like the colors? I used the same ones from our wedding and-"

I quickly shut the box, just in case I dropped it, and quieted her ramblings with a searing kiss. I turned slightly so that I was facing her rather than cranking my neck awkwardly then slipped my arms around her neck as I pulled her closer to me because damn, I have the best wife in the world!

"So I take it that you like your present?" San asked, her dopey smile making me want to kiss her again and again.

"I love it, it's perfect!" I cheered, pulling my arms away from her so I can look inside the box again. "Thank you."

" You're welcome," She cheesed, "It's a necklace, just in case you didn't see the chain." She replied also looking down at the box then pointed, "It's tucked under there."

"Ohhh, I see." I said, turning the box a little to see the start of the chain before smiling down at her, "Can you put it on me?"

"Of course."

She stepped behind me, gathering up my hair and setting it over my shoulder before pulling the necklace from the box and slowly slipping it around my neck then clicked it in place. I flipped my hair back over my shoulder then looked down at the pendent that now rested near my heart and smiled.

"Looks nice on you," Santana said, her eyes stilling on my new necklace before she met my own, "But I know something that would look even better." Her voice grew just the slightest bit raspier as she crept towards me, her hands setting on my waist while her pouty lips curled into a seductive smirk. I swallowed thickly as her brown eyes darkened on me.

"Did you buy me new lingerie too?"

"Nope." She replied cutely, making that popping sound with her lips as she moved even closer, "Something better than clothes.."

"Well, it's not a puppy because I can't wear those unless I'm that creepy lady from that Dalmatian movie and also I'm pretty sure it's animal cruelty if you've had it hiding in one of your suitcases this whole trip.." I watched as her lips parted and she tilted her head slightly to the left like she does when she's confused but then she just laughed.

"God, you're fucking cute." Then before I could even mention a swear jar, her lips were on mine and her arms tangling around my neck as our bodies molded together. Instinctively, I curled my arm around her while I used my other to grab on to the door frame to keep us balanced as I walked her backwards back into the bedroom. Once I got her close enough to the bed, she toppled over, landing on her butt with a huff before reattaching her hands to my hips then tugging at the hem of my tshirt.

"Off, now." She practically growled as she flattened her hand under my shirt the dragged her blunt nails down my skin making my muscles twitch. My heart was already racing as I quickly whipped off my top while she went to unbuttoning my jeans.

"Yours too." I rasped and bent over to press my cheek against hers as I steadied myself on her shoulders while she pushed my jeans down to my knees so that I could kick them off the rest of the way. I didn't really think out trying to take her hoodie off while she was trying to take my jeans off and when I went down to find her hem, we sort of-

"Ow!" San shrieked, still somewhat hunched over and griping her head before pouting up at me.

"I'm sorry, baby!" I gasped and sank to my knees in all my half naked glory. She gave a hurt smile as she rubbed at her forehead.

"It's okay, I'm good." She replied, nodding her head, "You and you're clumsiness.."

"Yeah..me and my clumsiness.." I pouted guiltily before swatting her hand away and kissing where I had head butted her accidently, "But sweet lady kisses make everything better."

"That they do, babe." San giggled and went back to trying to seduce me like nothing happened. I straightened up after I was freed from my pants and went to carefully pulling off her hoodie, careful of her belly, and careful of not head butting her again. Once most of our clothes were piled up on the floor, I had her wiggling back against the headboard to rest against pillows while I positioned myself between her legs. With her being seven months pregnant now, it was always a challenge trying to work around it during sexy times but at least it's a good upper body work out! I kept myself up, hovering above her, as her hands tangled into my hair while I felt her lips all over my neck, nipping and sucking gently.

"Can't get enough, huh?" I smirked as she went to town on my pulse point. "Hey, _ow_ that wasn't very nice." I pouted as I felt her suck particularly hard on a sensitive spot on my neck. That was definitely going to leave a mark.

"That's what you get." She quipped then soothed the bruise with the swipe of her tongue before pressed a kiss softly to my skin. "There, all better." I chuckled at that and recaptured her lips with mine, letting our tongues swirl together. Making out with Santana has always been one of my top things I love to do because damn, she is such a good kisser! I feel sorry for all the people that don't get to experience her kisses, but then again I don't because she's mine.

"Britt-Britt.." She whimpered after I had straddled her thigh and began to rock against her. I smiled devilishly into the next kiss at hearing her needy voice. She was getting worked up quicker than usual and I wasn't that far behind.

"Mhmm?" I mumbled teasingly, kissing a trail up her neck before going to nibble at her ear while I continued to rock against her. I felt her shudder beneath me at that and her arms tighten around my waist the harder I pressed down into her. She muttered something more, but the throbbing between my legs was starting to echo in my ears and I began to lose myself above her. Who knew being the tease was such hard work?

I felt her dip her hands into my soaked panties, her nimble fingers easily sliding through my slick folds causing my breath to hitch as I pressed my cheek against hers to find some balance. My breathing grew labored as she quickly worked me to the edge that I had to stop kissing her just to get air back into my lungs. She was touching me in the best of ways and it was actually distracting how good she felt on me, but I pulled myself together and found her heat, plunging my fingers into her as well.

" _Fucking hell_!" She choked out as I began to match her speed. Sexy times were one of the very few times she was allowed to curse, so she took advantage. I also didn't really mind it because it was sort of a turn on for me too! I smiled smugly as her hips began to meet my thrusts and her eyes closed lazily. She was panting and little beads of sweat began to trickle down her forehead as well as gather between her breasts the longer we kept it up. I could feel my forearms starting to sting as I kept my fingers pumping in and out of her, struggling to keep her pace because she was bringing me so, so, close to the edge with just the slightest curl of her fingers.

"Saan.." I whined when she hit a particularly sweet spot. She hummed in approval then proceeded to keep hitting that spot as her tongue delved into my mouth, battling for dominance with my own. I quickened my pace, hitting her clit with the heel of my palm the fast I pumped my fingers into her, eliciting the sexiest of moans. Then within seconds, I felt her clench around my two fingers, followed by my hand being covered in her climax. Her body stiffened beneath me, her jaw going slack as her orgasm washed over her body. Seeing her like that, all panting and sweaty, was enough to give me the final push and I ground down on her fingers still inside of me, riding them until I was toppling over the edge too. When I finally regained some control of my body, I slumped over next to her, curling my arm around her as I snuggled up. We both laid there trying to catch our breath when she tilted her head at me and giggled.

"What's so funny?" I grinned lazily, fighting off laughing with her because her laugh is so contagious.

"We've only been here an hour and we're already going at it."

"Well.." I laughed, rolling over on my side so I could place my palm on the top of her belly, "Maybe if my wife wasn't so sexy all the time we would've lasted a little longer."

"I doubt it." She snickered, overlapping my hand with hers, "Especially with you walking around here without a shirt on.."

"Uhm..I'm pretty sure _you_ took it off after _you_ pounced on me." I shot back, squinting my eyes at her when she started to glare playfully.

"Details," She waved off, "Minor details." I rolled my eyes at that, smiling still because I'm still coming down from my high and I just feel really good, then rolled back over to stare up at the ceiling. "So..round two?" I tilted my head to look up at her smiling down at me devilishly then answered her with a quick roll of my body and a sloppy wet kiss.

_Later That Day;_

"Baby, you look fine."

"No!"

"Come on..come out from there, it's okay.."

"Britt, no, I'm not coming out."

I let out a deep sigh and shuffled my bare feet against the shaggy rug at the foot of our bed. After our many rounds, we decided that maybe we should get out of the bedroom and explore what nature has to offer. Well, it was mostly _my_ idea, San was totally for staying in the room all day but when I suggested all the new places we could do the dirt she warmed up to the idea. Currently though, I was trying to go swimming in the lake a little ways down from the cabin. Santana on the other hand was not having it; today was just one of those days where she felt sort of-

"Ugly! I look fat and ugly and horrible and you can't see me like this!" She grumbled from the other side of the closet door. I pushed myself up off the bed and walked the short distance over to the walk in closet, resting my shoulder against the wall so I could hear better. "Everything is just so _tight_ on me!" I heard a few things that sounded similar to hangers being thrown around on the other side of the door and frowned.

"Honey, I've told you million times already. You are beautiful. Also, I've seen you naked and I can tell you right now, I _definitely_ still like what I see so you're fine. And I didn't think I'd ever be saying this to you but, baby, _please_ come out of the closet." The racket on the other side of the door seemed to stop as I pressed my ear to the door. When I felt handle turning, I stepped back a little.

"You really think I still got it?" She asked timidly, hiding most of her body behind the door.

"Of course I do." I answered truthfully, turning my body so that I could wedge myself between the door if I had to.

"But what if someone sees me?"

"No one'll see you, we're in the middle of nowhere." I replied through a breathy chuckle before placing my hand on her forearm and tried easing her out of the closet, "And if someone _did_ , they'd probably have a heart attack because of all the hotness, their eyes just couldn't handle." She looked like she was warming up to the thought as she finally stepped out behind the door and back into the bedroom in her sexy black one piece. "See? You're smokin' hot, babe!" I teased, and leaned in to kiss her cheek. She flushed at the compliment and then stared down at herself.

"I am rocking this one piece though, huh?" She smirked.

"Totally, now let's go. I wanna get my Little Mermaid on!" I cheered and went to grab a couple towels before slipping on my flip flops. San chuckled at my little fist pump then followed me downstairs making sure to fit her floppy sun hat atop her head and slide on her aviators.

Once we were outside I got to setting up our fold out chairs while she dipped her toes into the lake's edge, testing the water. I watched with a grin on my face as she stepped in timidly then withdrew her foot quickly, shaking her head and muttering some curses under her breath. Then she lifted her hands to lay on top of her belly as she looked down and started speaking, this time with a happier expression. She was a little out of listening distance, but I could tell she was mumbling sweet nothings to our son just by the way she was smiling. You know how San's got these special smiles? I think the one she's got on right now is our son's. He's a lucky kid, already having a special smile and didn't even have to get friendzoned to get it!

"How's the water?" I asked, nestling my chin on her shoulder as my arms wrapped around her waist to hug her tightly.

"Freezing," She grumbled, spinning around to face me, "I think I'll just get my tan on, you can swim if you want."

"Awh, but it's not fun swimming alone.." I pouted, making sure I added a lip quiver for good measure. Just when I thought she was actually considering joining me, she rolled up on her toes to kiss the pout away before walking back over to our set up, swinging her hips teasingly.

"If I get in that water, I'll probably freeze." She called over her shoulder, "And the baby would be one little ice cube, definitely not pushing that out of me. Just thinking of those sharp edges makes me cringe!"

"Oh God, can that really happen?" I deadpanned eyes wide open as I watched her calmly lay back in her chair.

"No Britt," She chuckled, adjusting her hat on her head, "I was only joking."

"Ohhhh.." I let out a sigh of relief, "Well, if you're staying over there I'll just take a quick dip!" She threw a thumbs up in reply before I ran up the dock and jumped in.

To say that the water was cold would be an understatement; Santana was right, it was freezing!

I paddled around for a bit though trying to get acclimated to the temperature, but after 15 minutes of wadding around, I just had to give up. I quickly pulled myself up on the wooden dock I had jumped off of then slicked my hair back before trotting over to where San was lying out.

"Ow, ow!" She hollered as I got closer then whistled at me. I felt my cheeks flush as she smirked up at me then handed me a towel. "Cold, huh?"

"Mhmm.." I nodded, shivering as I wrapped the towel around myself trying to keep some warmth in. She just chuckled and wrapped her arm around me and started rubbing her hands up and down my arms.

"God, your lips are turning blue Britt." She sighed worriedly then pulled me closer to share her body heat. I wrapped my arms around myself tighter and buried my head into her neck so she could hold me fully; nothing's warmer than San's hugs.

"S-S-So soft." I stammered through chattering teeth. She only smiled and rubbed my arms against the towel a little more. A few minutes later, I stopped shivering and my lips returned to their natural pinkish tone. Once San was happy with me not being so cold anymore, she dropped her arms so I could wiggle into my own chair and let the sun rays warm the rest of my body.

"Hey Britt, look!" San chirped, pointing at her stomach. "He's trying to swim too." I glanced down at her belly in time to see the nudges against her skin.

"Awh, we'll take him here one day. I bet he'd love it!" I replied, loving the way she smiled so fondly down at her tummy.

"Well, he's had enough practice swimming around in there. He's probably a natural." She answered, her voice softening as she spoke. "Hey Britt?" She asked, only this time her voice sounded so fragile and small. At that, I turned my whole body to face her, interested in what was going on.

"Yeah, babe?"

"You think we'll do a good job?" She asked timidly, her hands resting on her stomach, "I mean, we're having a boy. We know nothing about how to raise a boy. What if-what if we don't do it right? You know? What if- I don't know-I guess I'm just a little scared.."

"Oh honey.." I sighed, reaching over for her hand, "Of course we'll do a good job, we'll do a _great_ job! You know why? Because we make an awesome team already. It's only natural to be a little scared, _I'm_ a little scared. Actually, I'm a lot of scared, but you know what? That doesn't keep me from thinking we won't do an awesome job, because we got this."

"I wish I could be like you, Britt, you're so brave in all of this." San sighed, tearing her eyes away from mine guiltily.

"Awh, don't say that. You're so brave too, San, you really are. You've been so good through this whole thing, I'm so proud of you." I cooed, and kissed the back of her hand before brushing my lips along her knuckles. "So, so proud."

She stared back at me, dark brown eyes filling with adoration, "I love you."

"And I love you back," I winked, scrunching my nose up at her cheek bunching grin. We spent the next hour just soaking up the sun and talking about random things until San heard my stomach growl.

"Op, someone's ready for some dinner." San giggled, reaching over to pat my stomach, "Maybe we should start heading back now? It's sorta getting dark."

"Yeah, you're right." I said as I sat up, "I'm sure you're getting hungry too."

"Oh, I'm always up for eating." San replied as she sat up to and started to gather up our towels.

"Oh, I know." I winked, "I know _all_ too well."

"I mean, just wanky." She snickered, folding up her chair then handing it off to me, "Come on, dirty mind, let's get to cooking."

About an hour and a half later, San and I were both changed into somewhat regular clothes and snuggled up together outside next to the outdoor fireplace with our feet propped up on the table and bowls of freshly cooked pasta in our laps. Above us the stars twinkled against the night sky while the fire cracked and popped, throwing shadows of the nearby furniture at the wall of the cabin.

"This is nice." San mumbled, laying her head on my shoulder as she griped her pasta bowl tightly.

"Yeah, you can't see stars like these in the big city." I replied, taking a bite from my bowl.

"It's a good change from the usual tall buildings and street lights," San agreed, "This nature stuff is like on a whole other level of awesome."

"Totally." I nodded sleepily, setting my head to rest against the top of hers. "Just think, a year ago we were dancing away to Mercedes singing and Bella trying to squeeze her way between us."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure we ended up in that janitor's closet right about now." She smirked, " _Someone_ doesn't know how to keep her hands to themselves."

"Well maybe if _someone_ wasn't such a tease all the time that wouldn't happen.." I grumbled, matching her smirk. She just giggled and shook her head at me.

"I can't believe it's been a year already," San sighed contently, "Time goes by so fast."

"It really does," I mumbled sleepily.

"You getting tired over there?" She asked, taking the bowl from my hands so she could set it in hers.

"Mm, maybe.." I yawned, my eye lids drooping lazily, "Maybe not." San chuckled, picking up her head from my shoulder and moving to stand with the bowls in her hands.

"I think you are." She smirked then nodded towards the door, "Put that fire out and let's go to bed."

"Mrmpf.."

"Britt..I'm not carrying you up if you fall asleep out here." I heard her joke as she slid the back door open, "I'll be in the kitchen cleaning up!"

I was content with just sitting outside a little longer, mostly because I was too tired to move, but then I realized I was outside in the middle of the woods, _alone_ , and I quickly put out the fire and scurried into the safety of the house. Who knows what kind of lions, tigers, or bears could be lurking out there! After helping San wash up, we both drudged our ways to our room and collapsed on the bed, grateful for having such a soft comfy mattress to lie on. Sleep came easily and soon we were yet again snuggled up beneath the covers, softly breathing our rhythmic patterns.

_The next morning;_

I rolled over on my side groggily, expecting to feel the warmth of my wife's skin pressed up against me, only to find that her side of the bed was empty. I flopped back over on my back, rubbing at my eyes with balled fists before hearing the distant clanging of pots and pans coming from downstairs. I did one last stretch before sitting up and slipping on my ducky slippers and heading downstairs. Don't judge me and my ducky slippers, they're excellent feet warmers and I hate when my feet are cold.

"Morning, Sleepy Head." San chirped happily as I entered the kitchen. She walked over to me, a spatula in one hand and kissed my lips gently, "Sleep good?"

"Mhm," I mumbled, pressing my lips to hers for another morning kiss, "You?"

"Strangely, yeah." She nodded as she went back to scrambling eggs. "I think it's the air up here, it's gotten me all eased and stress free."

"Yeah? That's really good," I grinned before taking a big gulp of orange juice.

"It is, you know Britt? I didn't think I would like being in the middle of nowhere so much, but this sense of privacy has got me thinking differently." She scooped out the eggs on to a plate next to a stack of pancakes and brought another plate to the dining table I was sitting at. "It's a nice break from all the crazy back in New York."

"Well, we could always give up our lives in New York after the baby's born, move up here, and live happily ever after in our private little bubble." I teased through a mouthful of syrup soaked pancakes. "No paparazzi, no tabloids, no interviews, no stress! We could also get that puppy I've been saying we should get, there's tons of open space for it to run around and be free!"

"Britt.." She drawled out warningly but I just laughed.

"What?! We should start looking for a bigger place anyways, where we live now is just barely big enough for the both of us. I'm just saying, we could be like Cheaper by the Dozen out here, minus the dozen of kids. Maybe we could just have like half a dozen instead? There's a lot of space and all, but I don't know if I could handle 12 mini you and me's."

"We don't even have this one out of the oven yet and you're already planning on having more?" She laughed, shaking her head, "You're carrying next!"

"What can I say?" I grinned innocently, stretching my hand across the table for hers, "I don't even need to wait till he's born to know what he looks like; we make super hot babies."

"That we do, Britt, that we do."


	11. Chapter 11

_2 Weeks Later;_

After our awesome little getaway up in the mountains, it was back to work for us. Well, mostly for me. Ever since I had left to choreograph that music video for Beyonce, which by the way got almost 8 million hits within the first hour it was uploaded, San rarely goes into work unless she's coming to visit me. I don't know the whole story behind what happened while I was away but Kurt has been very strict with the amount of hours San works a week to the point that he has guards near her office just incase she tries to sneak in.

It was nice getting back to work though; there's nothing like a little dancing to stretch out your muscles after a short time spent being lazy. I wasn't surprised to find that everything was running just as smoothly when I came back, Jeremy does well with keeping things straight when I'm not there. However, with Mercedes's tour going into full swing I've had to send Jeremy, along with a small group of dancers, on the tour as well. I would've gone, but not with Santana being as pregnant as she is and how the tour is practically the whole summer long.

So for the past couple weeks, I've been pretty much running the studio alone and I didn't realize how much of a big help Jeremy was now that he's gone temporarily. I have definitely _not_ missed working without an assistant, that's for sure! Much to Santana's dislike, I've had to go back to working my usual crazy hours which sucks because we're so close to the due date and I can tell she's getting nervous. It's a good thing setting up the nursery is enough to distract her, at least while I'm at work, for the meantime though.

After a long day at work, finally coming home was such a good feeling. I couldn't wait to kick my shoes off and just relax on the couch or something and that's coming from someone who's constantly energized. Unlocking the door and tossing my duffle bag in the hallway closet, I called out, "Honey, I'm home!" as I walked through the seemingly empty living room. My brows furrowed as I walked towards the opposite end of the floor, following the muffled sound of what might be San's voice.

"San?" I called out again before nudging the door of the halfway finished nursery open to find her busying herself with stacking onesies.

_Okay, oh baby  
I be stuck to you like glue baby  
Wanna spend it all on you baby  
My room is the g-spot  
Call me Mr. Flintstone  
I can make your bedrock_

I pressed my lips tightly together as I leaned up against the doorway trying not to laugh at how cute Santana trying to rap sounded. She obviously hadn't sensed I was standing there yet because she kept on rapping, swaying her hips as she bent over to pick up another stack of baby clothes, rolling her body, before throwing up her hands comically.

_Okay, I get it, let me think, I guess it's my turn  
Maybe it's time to put this pus-_

"Babe!" I scolded, crossing my arms over my chest and startling her a little to where she actually jumped and hid behind a stuffed bear, "Language."

"I-uhm-yeah.." San pouted, her cheeks flushing as she slowly set down the bear, "Sorry, it's just been stuck in my head all day, I can't help it. I didn't-"

" _Choose the thug life, the thug life choose me_. I know," I finished robotically and walked the short distance to where she was standing.

"Uhh, not what I was going to say but that works too!" She giggled cutely, setting down the last of the onesies aside then turned to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. "How was work?"

"Uhhh, you know.." I drawled out as I spun away from her to help fold the rest of the baby clothes then shrugged, "Tiring, at least Jeremy will be back in the next couple of weeks so I won't be spread so thin _and_ I can help out more in here." I looked around at the half finished nursery and sighed, "We've still got two more boxes of stuff from the baby shower to put away, but at least the crib is up finally and the rocking chair is where it needs to be." San let her eyes wander around the room too with her hands tucked under her belly and nodded.

"All's left now is a baby and the room would be set!" I grinned over at her, laying my hand on her tummy before bending down to kiss her cheek.

"I can't believe it's almost time, I'm so excited!"

"Me too, B." She giggled at my little happy dance, "You think we're ready?" I looked around the room, my eyes falling on the stacks of diapers and baby wipes, bibs and binkies, outfits upon outfits..

"Uhh, I'm pretty sure we've got enough stuff to cover like three babies."

"No, I meant like are _we_ ready? You've had some sort of experience with Quinn when she had Bella, but I don't. I wasn't there for Cassie when she had Mason so I really have no idea what's going to happen.." She rambled, "I just know it's going to hurt like sh-"

"San.."

"Shitake mushrooms." She finished abruptly with a sly smile playing on her lips. With the due date drawing near, I could sense that she was a little more on edge than usual and her saying what she just did made all that make sense. She was nervous.

"Well.." I hummed racking my brain for an idea, "Have you talked to Quinn about her experience?"

"She's been really busy lately though with wedding planning and keeping up with Bella's afterschool activities, I don't really want to bother her.."

"Babe, you wouldn't be bothering her." I reassured, placing my hand at the small of her back and moved it back and forth comfortingly, "Quinn would totally understand!"

"Yeah..or make fun of me because I'm nervous.." She whimpered shamefully. I snickered as I cupped her chin with my free hand and kissed her lips softly.

"You _know_ Quinn wouldn't pick on you like that if you were serious about something." She smiled weakly up at me and nodded. "Well, there's always Lamaze classes?" I offered with a shrug, "Quinn didn't go to any when she was pregnant since we were kind of broke, but you could try it? I hear they're really helpful and prepare you for all that good stuff when the time comes."

"Huh, I didn't really think of that." She replied, her finger tip tapping at her chin as she went into deep thought, "Wait. Don't you think it's a little too late for me? I mean, I'm due like the middle of July and it's already the end of May."

"I don't really think it matters, San, you'll still get to sit on those bouncy balls and do those cool stretches no matter how preggers you are."

"Well, I guess that's true." San mumbled then turned to look up at me with her deep chocolate brown eyes sparkling, "Will you come with me to the classes?"

"Of course," I grinned, "I can't let you have all the ball bouncing fun! Besides, I kind of already signed you up..maybe?" I said that last part pretty fast, hoping that Santana wouldn't catch but she definitely did.

"Wait, you did what?" She gaped.

"Well..one of my dancers' mom's friend teaches a class and one thing led to another and now you're signed up! I talked to the lady and she seems really nice and she's totally cool with our situation and she said that you ca-"

"When the hell did you do that?" She huffed, crossing her arms over herself defensively as she withdrew herself completely from my touch. I swallowed thickly at hearing her harsh tone as I stood under her glare.

"Uhm..it was a long time ago. I just forgot to tell you about it, you know how I can forget things sometimes right? I mean, it's not a set thing, she just offered if you were ever interested. I don't know why you're getting so upset.." I wanted to smack myself for muttering those last words because as if on cue, San's face turned red. The quickest way to _really_ get San mad was doing what I just did; question her reason for being mad.

"Upset?!" She laughed sarcastically before throwing her hands up in the air, "You think _this_ is me being upset? I'll _show_ you what me being upset looks like!"

"Please don't show me what you being upset looks like, I already know." I groaned, chasing after her as she stormed out of the nursery. "And _this_ is what it looks like." She stomped into the living room and turned to face me so fast that I almost collided into her. She continued to glare as she crossed her arms again. I knew I was in trouble because we always talk about everything and now she probably thinks that I'm going behind her back with this. "Santana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, I thought I was doing a good thing for you and the baby." Her demeanor softened as she stared up at me, her shoulders slowly relaxing the more I tried to calm her down. She let out a small puff of air before dropping her arms to her sides and cocked her head to the left.

"I know you had good intentions, Britt, but do you see why I'm a little upset here?" She asked, this time her voice wasn't harsh but more calm and understanding. "You really should've talked to me about it first, we should've done this _together_. You know I don't like being left out like that.." I stared down at my toes guiltily and nodded. I really did feel bad, but honestly I didn't think it was enough to cause Santana to raise her voice on me. Then again, the pregnancy has made her temper flare a lot easier lately.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel like that." I mumbled, scuffing my heel at the wood flooring. She cupped my chin softly then tilted it up so that I was looking into deep pools of brown swirling with love.

"That's okay, baby." She smiled, her thumbs grazing my cheekbones, "I didn't mean to get all crazy pregger on you, I'm sorry." She rolled up on her toes and pecked my lips gently, her hands still cupping my cheeks. It was exhausting trying to keep up with how quickly San's moods can change, but learned months ago to just roll with it.

"No worries." I replied, smiling into one last kiss, "How about we go to your favorite deli down the street and grab some dinner?"

"Oh, that sounds nice." She moaned at the thought of having one of those roast beef sandwiches she loved so much. "Oh wait, but the nursery? I still have a lot to put away and there's only so much more time until-" I pressed my lips against her pouty ones for a couple quick pecks, enough to quiet her ramblings.

"I think you deserve a little break, I'm sure you've been at it all day." I teased, setting my hands on her hips, "Let's go eat and when we come back, I'll help you finish up. That way we can get to bed early and won't be grumpy for our appointment with Dr. Meyer tomorrow." She licked her lips slowly then looked over her shoulder toward the front door before turning back to me with a sly smile.

"Race you there!" She cheered and wobbled off to get her shoes sitting by the front door. I just followed her with my eyes, chuckling, because I doubt she wants to go outdoors in her pajamas.

After getting some food into her, talking about San possibly taking a couple Lamaze classes came a little easier.

"Well, I guess it'll be alright.." She said in between bites of her sandwich before pointing to me, "You've gotta come with me though, I'm not going to be stuck in a room full of emotional pregnant women who are either way too happy to be there or a whining mess. I just can't handle all that."

"Well duh, I'm coming with you!" I laughed, "Who else is going to make sure you don't attack anyone?" She rolled her eyes playfully at me before going back to her meal. "Besides, I've always wanted to see what really goes on in there. Quinn never went to those classes so I only know the Tv version. I guess it's the same though, right?"

"Mhmm, probably." She mumbled in reply as she took a bite of a crunchy pickle. "Dr. Meyer is going to be so proud of us, participating in classes and what not." I nodded and continued eating as we both settled into a comfortable silence, occasionally groaning at the fact that the paparazzi were probably snapping pictures of me with my mouth open and all my chewed up food on display. Santana on the other hand took a different approach.

As she picked her sandwich up for another bite, she flicked up her middle finger.

"San!" I hissed, ducking my head a little, "Don't do that.."

"What?" She asked innocently as she alternated to flicking the reporters off with her right hand this time. I shook my head tiredly trying not to laugh.

"Put that thing away, it's rude."

" _That thing?_ " She mocked before fanning out her fingers in front of my face, "Do I need to remind you of all the mind blowing things this _thing_ can do?" Her eyes grew darker as her lips curled into a knowing smirk that caused my cheeks to flush. I swallowed dryly and shook my head.

"How about you finish eating then we can go home and you can remind all about it." I winked before leaning across the table to kiss the tip of her nose.

_One Week Later;_

So far, we've gone to three Lamaze classes and they're actually not that bad! Movies always made it seem really boring, besides the bouncy balls, and though I was totally for going with San to each class, I was hesitant. The class is pretty small, only about four other couples in the room along with us, and they're pretty down to earth. We weren't bombarded with questions or anything when walked in, just smiles. It was nice to be treated like everyone else in the room; no special treatment. I was surprised to find out that they're pretty helpful, especially for San. Before she didn't really know how to tell the difference between regular cramps to the baby is about to pop out, and thankfully now she knows. Within three classes we've learned a couple breathing exercises as well as relaxation methods when the pain comes. If I would've known that these classes would make such a positive effect on us, I would've brought it up _way_ sooner!

Just as expected, Dr. Meyer loved the idea of us attending classes. With our crazy lives and need for privacy from the press, she didn't think that we would've ever enrolled in any but when we told her at our last appointment, she was thrilled! With the due date drawing near, our visits with Dr. Meyer are now upped to weekly instead of every other week. It's something about making sure everything inside San is doing what it is supposed to be doing to ensure that this baby is born healthy.

"And you've finally got over the nerves," Dr. Meyer teased as she walked into our usual room and noticed Santana lying back leisurely on the examining bed, "A whole seven and a half months later!" San laughed at that while I looked to her and smirked; Dr. Meyer was _so_ right about that. "Well, you know the drill, my dears, let's take a look."

She ran through the usual check up smoothly, making sure to give us a glimpse of the little guy still growing inside San as well as let us listen to his strong heart beat. Both were always so moving for us, it just made everything seem so real. Not that it isn't real now, but it's like hearing him and seeing him, even if it's just through the machines, is one tiny step closer to actually meeting him. Just thinking about it gets me all giddy!

"He needs a name," She mumbled, her voice breaking my concentration on what was happening on tv. I readjusted my arm that was cradling San's head as we laid cuddled up on the couch in our living room, hours after leaving the doctor's office.

"Who?"

"Him." She replied, pointing down at her belly. I fanned my free hand out and pressed it to her tummy before nodding.

"Well, I already gave my suggestion." I shrugged casually, "I think Luke is a cute name, just saying."

"You'd think we have some type of Star Wars fetish," She laughed, But I _do_ like that name.."

"See? You like it. I like it. Boom, done."

"Yeah, but what about a middle name? He should have a middle name, Britt.." She replied, turning over a little to her side so she can give me her full attention, "Everyone has a middle name.."

"I don't have one."

"What?" She questioned, her brows all scrunched as I tried to keep a straight face, "Alright, _Susan_ , you don't have a middle name but our son is going to have one!" I chuckled at her determination and decided to just nod along. "You watch, I'm going to think up something. It'll be a whole truck load of awesome."

"Whatever you say, my love." I winked, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head before turning back to the Tv.

The next day was an extremely busy one for me considering Thursdays are when I'd split up the dancers, Jeremy taking one group and I take the other, to teach but since he's still on tour with Mercedes, I'll have to be a one woman show. I had _just_ gotten finished with the first shift when Kurt came waltzing into the studio. It was a little weird seeing here when I was so used to seeing him at Showtime's, but I was still happy to have him around more.

"Hey Kurt!" I waved as I dabbed at my forehead with my towel. "What's up?"

"Hi Britt." He greeted, "Someone's here to see you, I thought I'd walk them personally to you." Before I could fully quirk my brow and tilt my head to the side, he stepped away from the entrance of the studio revealing a very familiar little blonde.

"Brittany!" Bella beamed before charging for me. My smile grew at seeing the girl I've missed so much. I really felt bad that I hadn't been spending much time with Bella as I used to, even Britt/Bella nights have gone from once a week to once a month. It had probably been a little more than a week since the last time I saw her, but she's growing up so fast. I'm afraid if I blink she'll already be packed up and heading off to college!

For now though, I wanted to savor these last moments of her still being that somewhat little girl.

"Peanut, hey!" I cheered, wrapping my arms around the girl, "I've missed you!" She brought her arms up to squeeze at my waist before smiling up.

"Me too! That's why Sanny and I came by to visit you." Just as I was about to ask where San was, she appeared at the door next to Kurt, wielding a carrying tray of Tropical Smoothie, "Oh, and we brought smoothies!"

"Yeah, I see that." I laughed and patted at the shorter blonde's head before walking over to San, "Well, this is a nice surprise."

"Well, we were just down the street and Bella had the idea of stopping by." San smiled as I pecked her cheek, "Are you busy right now? Can you take a little break? I know it's Thursday and all.."

"Nope, I'm good! Let's sit down then you can tell me which is mine." I teased, eyeing the Styrofoam cups while my tongue swiped along my bottom lip in anticipation. "Oh, thanks Kurt!"

"No problem, have a nice lunch." He called over his shoulder as he left the room. I smiled over at San and Bella then directed them over to the little lounge area set up at the back of the studio.

"Let me guess," I hummed as I took notice of the cup that was labeled _Bellz_ and began to hand it over to her, "Beach Bum?" Her tiny hands took hold of the drink as she grinned bashfully before nodding, "I knew it!" Then I saw the cup labeled _Snixx_ and plucked it from its confines as I slowly leaned over to hand it to Santana, "And a Bahama Mama for you?"

"Nope, guess again." She teased as she took hold of her cup and slurped away with a smirk on her lips.

"Chocolate Chiller?"

"Uh-uh."

"Tropi-Colada?"

"Nope."

"Uhm..it better not be a Mocha Madness." I said sternly but she just chuckled and shook her head.

"Jetty Punch." She replied with a triumphant grin, " _You_ got the Chocolate Chiller."

"Mmm, love those." I cheered and followed along with the two as they slurped away happily. "Thanks for this, babe."

"You're welcome," She smiled then nodded to Bella, "Thank Bella too, it was her idea."

"Oh, of course and thank you Peanut!"

"Welcome!" Bella answered between slurps. We sat comfortably for about 5 minutes just slurping away until San sat up a little.

"So you're excited about Jeremy coming back soon? The tour is finishing up next week."

"Oh man, yes!" I groaned, "You have no idea, San, I never realized how much Jeremy does around here. I definitely miss the guy, that's for sure!" She smiled at that, nodding in agreement. "How about you? Mercedes will be coming back too, you guys already have something in the works for her?"

"You know it!" She winked, "Always have to be three steps ahead, Britt, that's how you win a Grammy! But hey, speaking of the tour finishing up. The last stop is here in New York City and I want us to go." Automatically I thought it was a bad idea, pregnant ladies shouldn't be going to concerts where there's all these people pushing and shoving you about! It just wasn't safe.

"Uhh, I –"

"It's her last concert for awhile and I really want to show my support for her. I'm really proud of her accomplishments thus far. I promised that I'd see her perform and I think now's the time." My eyes nearly popped out of my head at hearing that she thought _now_ was the perfect time.

"Uh, now is definitely not the perfect time." I replied sternly, setting down my cup so that she knew she had my full attention. She didn't like that I wasn't going for her plan though, that was pretty clear by the way she sat back against the couch cushions, arms crossed and brows scrunched.

"Of course it is, the last show is always the best one!" She raised her voice, but only because she was still a little excited. I didn't want to chance Bella being caught in the crossfire though.

"Hey Peanut, how about you go say hi to Uncle Kurt for a second so I can talk to San?" I asked politely to which Bella nodded happily and left without a question. I turned my attention back on Santana and matched her stern glare. "You _know_ this doesn't sound like a good idea."

"Yeah, I know but-"

"Santana, you're pregnant. You shouldn't be going to these sorts of things, what if you get hurt? What if the baby gets hurt?"

"B, you've got to stop trying to trap me in a bubble." San grumbled, "I show support to all my artists, this last show is really meaningful to Mercedes. What kind of a boss would I be if I didn't do it for her too?"

"Uhm, I don't know. A smart boss?" I replied sarcastically, feeling my anger boiling up inside of me. Is it just me that thinks this isn't a good idea or what? San creased her forehead again as she stared back at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly how it sounds, San." I shrugged casually, "This has bad written all over it and I really don't want you going to a rowdy concert with your condition."

" _Condition_?" She scoffed, "You make it sound like I've got a disease or something.."

"No, you're carrying precious cargo." I replied, "I don't want you getting hurt, that's all."

"But you don't understand, Britt." She sighed heavily, "This is how I make up for all my bitchy behavior. I treat my artists harshly and I push them, but only because I want to see them succeed. This is the time where I can actually show them that I'm proud. I don't have to hide behind a mask, they can see the real me. The person who has helped shape them into the amazing performer that they are. I know Mercedes and I are friends, but I don't want to break tradition. This is like the big hug after going through all that tough love, Britt, I need to go." I pressed my lips tightly together as I went into some deep thought. She made some really good points and it was so nice of her to want to do that for her team, but not when she's like this. I took one look at the pout she was trying to sport and sighed.

"Don't look at me like that," I laughed, "That's not going to work."

"Fine." She grumbled, "But really, I want to do this."

"I know you do, San, I do. It's just, this doesn't sound like a good idea to me. You can't blame me for expecting something to go wrong. I just don't want you to get hurt. I don't think we should go." Watching as her hopeful smile completely dropped made my heart clench. Seeing her so invested in making someone that wasn't me made me feel so proud. I never knew that she cared so much about her workers that I felt bad shutting her down like that.

Which is why I ended up caving in.

"Well, I guess we could stop by quickly just to drop by some flowers or something.." I offered after having enough of watching San pout. She quickly perked up at the idea and nodded.

"It'll be quick, just a few words from yours truly and we'll be out! That's like 10-15 minutes tops!"

"Just as long as I don't catch you crowd surfing out, I think that'll be fine." I teased, trying to fight off that weird nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

"Deal!" She chirped then wrapped her arms around me before peppering kisses all over my face, "You're the best, babe, she's going to be so happy we came!" I hugged her back, trying to block out all the possible things that could go wrong at this concert and instead thought about how happy San looked when I agreed that we could go. I focused on her _not_ accidently being knocked over by some rowdy fans. I focused on her _not_ getting sick in a place where I wouldn't really be much help. And I focused on how _not_ in danger she would be as long as we stay safe inside Mercedes's dressing room. I looked down at the smiling brunette in my arms and kissed her forehead.

"She better be!"


	12. Chapter 12

_June;_

"Okay mamas, let's get on all fours so that we can rest our upper torso on the fitness ball. Partners, steady the fitness ball."

I nodded to the instructor, Miss Maggie as everyone referred to her, then rearranged myself behind the ball while Santana hunched over and folded her arms on its surface.

"Now partners, we're going to do a couple exercises to relieve some of that ache that develops in the lower back." Miss Maggie replied and began giving step by step instructions. I made sure to listen very closely, making sure not to get ahead of myself since I thought I was already pretty awesome at giving massages. "Let's start at the nape of her neck and work our way down. Gentle touches, partners." I nodded again and brushed San's hair to the side so I had full view of her neck and tensed shoulders. With my bottom lip tucked snuggly between my teeth, I slowly I worked my fingers into the sore muscles along her spine.

"Ugh, Britt, that feels so good." San moaned quietly. I smiled triumphantly before leaning over to press a chaste kiss to her temple and continuing her massage. I always love knowing I can make her feel good, especially when she's constantly in pain.

"How are we feeling ladies? Relaxed?" Miss Maggie asked in general.

"God, yes!" I heard San moan a little louder this time causing a couple ladies off to the sides of us to chuckle. I mouthed a quick ' _Sorry_ ' before concentrating back on my practiced movements, not completely missing the muttered ' _You need to learn a thing or two about being delicate from her_ ' and ' _Can we switch partners'_ that started to circle around the room. I tried to keep from blushing as the comments whirled but with Santana sounding like she was in a perfect bliss; it was hard to keep a low profile. What can I say? I know how to satisfy my lady!

"Once we're at the hips, we're going to work our way back up the sides of the spine." Miss Maggie instructed, walking around to observe everyone's technique. She stopped a few times to watch other couples, but once she got around to us, she merely smiled approvingly and went on walking. A few minutes later, Miss Maggie brought us all to attention so we could go over our closing exercises before bringing class to an end for the day. "Okay ladies and gents, I will see you all next week! Have a nice rest of the afternoon." Everyone started to collect their things, but before we could do the same, Miss Maggie called for us.

"Great class today, Miss Maggie." I greeted cheerfully before nodding over to San, "She's totally relaxed." The instructor smiled, pleased.

"I was just coming over to see how you guys like the classes so far, I know it's only your fifth one but hey. An old lady like me needs some feedback in her life."

"You know, just being real for a sec, I thought I was going to hate it." San started, "But they're actually really helpful! It's also nice that no one really acts differently towards us while we're here, makes things a lot easier. I'm glad Britt looked into it for us."

"That's wonderful, I'm always happy to hear that." Miss Maggie replied before turning to me, "I also came by to talk to you about your technique earlier when we were doing the massages. It was perfect!"

"Oh?" I gaped, taken aback. I knew I could give a nice massage, but _perfect_? Wow.

"Yes! I was wondering if you had a background in Massotherapy."

"Massowhat?" San asked, brows scrunched in confusion.

"I-uhm-well I've never been anywhere but Ohio and here." I replied innocently, "And briefly California, but that's all.."

Miss Maggie stared at us both before smirking, "Massotherapy, it's the study of therapeutic use of massage. I know you're a choreographer, but I'm just saying that you might have a possible side career on your hands, literally."

"Ohhh..well, San _has_ said that I have magical fingers.." I replied as I side glanced at San who began blushing.

"She's given me massages at home before.." San quickly piped in.

"Mhm, among other things." I nodded casually earning a pointy elbow in my side along with a deathly glare.

"Brittany!" She hissed, her cheeks flushing completely now. I looked to her with a pout replacing my previous smile as I rubbed at my sore ribs.

"Right," Miss Maggie laughed, "Well, you should definitely look into it. I'll see you guys next week." I waved goodbye and bent down to grab San's yoga bag, tossing it over my shoulder before reaching for San's hand.

"We're going to have to work on your censorship." Santana whispered as we walked out towards the car, avoiding the flashes of cameras and nosey reporters throwing questions. "That was embarrassing as hell.."

"Says the one with the potty mouth.." I laughed as I helped her into the car and closed the door behind her before trotting around to the driver's side. I looked for the smile that would usually grace her lips whenever I slipped on my pink Ray Bans and revved the engine, but nothing. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time." I wiggled my fingers into her hand and ran my thumb along her skin trying to work a smile out of her.

"Good." She huffed, but smiled through her harsh tone showing me that she was just teasing. Then she brought our hands to her lips a kissed the back of mine, "Now let's go home, we've got a concert to get to!"

"Wait, we're still going to that?" I stopped and looked over at her, "I thought we were just going to drop flowers off afterwards?"

"I never agreed to that."

"Yeah, I just made that up but-"

"Brittany, I get you're just looking out for me, I really do, but I'm feeling like a smothered burrito over here. I'm not going to get mad because I know it's only because you care, but can you just tone it down for today?" She pleaded, "Just today.." I knew that we weren't going to be down in the crowd along with all the other fans, but I still didn't feel completely comfortable with the whole thing. Then again, I didn't want to make her feel like I was taking away her freedom in a way. "Please? It'll be fun..there'll be dancing." I looked to her fluttering her eyelashes and smiling temptingly.

"Okay, fine. We can go." I sighed in defeat, "But I won't like it!"

"Yes!" She cheered then smiled down at her belly, running her hands over her bump, "You hear that, honey? We're going out tonight!" She winked back at me then tapped the dashboard with her palm, "Now let's get rolling before the paps think we're having another quickie in the backseat!"

_Later that day;_

"Oh Britt, this is my freaking jam!"

"Totally." I replied with an expressionless tone, keeping a watchful eye around us while Santana swayed about with her hand in the air and a huge smile on her face. Sure we were completely protected up here in this special box and had a perfect view of the concert below, but you could never be _too_ safe. I glanced over at Santana dancing away happily and tried to fight the smile creeping up to my lips.

"Come on, babe, loosen up!" She teased, slipping her hands into mine and started tugging on them to make me sway too. "You've been all grumpy and so un-Brittany-like the whole time. I don't like it."

"Well, you said 10-15 minutes tops.." I grumbled, trying hard not to give in to dancing with her as she continued to tug on me even though I _really_ wanted to, "It's almost been an hour." She let out a deep sigh and stopped dancing all together before looking me straight in the eyes.

"That's because the intermission isn't until halfway through the show. With our doctor appointment and Lamaze just before this we couldn't really come early, so we have to wait."

"Oh, look who doesn't want to miss a class now.."

"Britt.." She pouted, "Don't be like that. There's nothing wrong with waiting, especially when we're perfectly safe up here in our private little box. See?" She reached for my hands and pressed them to her belly. I felt the light touches against my palms as San smiled up at me lovingly, "He's fine, I'm fine, we're all fine." It was like all my nervousness of the day had washed away at just the feel of our son's greetings. I looked down at my hand placement then up at Santana still smiling.

"I guess.." I shrugged hopelessly and looked out at Mercedes belting out note after note. I could still feel San's eyes on me, but after awhile of just watching me, she gave up and went back to dancing. I tried keeping my focus on the singer, but just like before, Santana slowly slipped her hands back into mine and started to make me sway with her once again.

"Dance with me, B." She pleaded playfully, her eyelashes fluttering as she smiled up at me lovingly. I was against coming here and I didn't want to do anything that would make her think that I was okay with being here now, but never have I ever refused to dance with my wife.

"Come on.." She coaxed playfully.

"Alright, fine." I grumbled tiredly though my smirk told her otherwise. Our hands entwined as we swayed about the room, bodies moving gracefully to Mercedes' soulful voice.

" _Oh girl, I love you so! Neva, Neva, gunna let you go!"_

"Those aren't the right words," I laughed after Santana sang her altered version of the chorus.

"Those are the right words to me!" She shrugged casually before pulling me closer to her so that her belly was touching mine, "I love a girl, not a boy, and I'm _neva, neva gunna let you go!"_ She sang once again and pressed her lips into mine gently. I chuckled at hearing her rendition but continued to wrap my arms around her and hold her close as we danced.

"We should take Jeremy out to dinner or something after this," San offered after a few silent minutes had gone by, "He's been a big help lately and I don't know it sounds like something nice to do."

"You wanna do something nice for an employee?" I questioned, my brow quirking as I stared down at her. "First you wanna come here to support Mercedes and _now_ you wanna take _my_ assistant choreographer out to dinner? Are you feeling okay, babe?" She quickly rolled her eyes and huffed.

"I can be nice when I want to be, Britt, you know that.." I smiled as I nodded enthusiastically.

"I know, it's just nice to see you being so kind so freely. I like it." I replied sweetly causing her cheeks to flush, "I'll ask him about it when it gets to intermission, okay?"

"Okay," She answered and spun around to take a sip of the slushie she snuck in. Coyly, she nibbled on the straw all while keeping her eyes on me with a mixture of lust and mischief swirling in those dark pools of chocolate. I stared back, my head tilted slightly to the left, waiting for whatever she was about to throw at me: a request to get her a snack she's currently craving, an onslaught of dirty talk, or maybe her whole body. You could never really tell when it comes to Santana. Just to be safe, I smiled nervously before turning my back to her and focusing on the show below.

"Britt-Britt?" San called sing-songingly in that super sugary sweet voice that made me nervous.

"Mhmm?" I answered trying to keep my voice even as I spun around to see her still nibbling on the straw of her drink.

"I love you."

"Ditto, honey."

"And you know who else I love?" She asked, stepping closer as her gaze turned mischievous.

"The Clintons?"

"Nope!" She laughed, "Jenery."

"Uhh..what's that? It sounds gross.." I deadpanned only making San laugh harder.

"Jenery! Jenna and Jeremy, Jenery.."

"Oh God, San, not this again." I face palmed, "You can't butt into people's love lives, babe, that's creepy."

"I'm not _butting in_ I'm merely giving them a little push needed to get the ball rolling." She shrugged innocently causing me to frown deeper. "What?" She scoffed, "I can remember a certain _someone_ a few years ago needing a similar little push, don't you?"

"Yeah, but Bryce is different..she didn't understand her feelings back then. You can't really hold that against her.."

"I'm talking about you, silly." San giggled, walking over to clasp my wrists and gently tug my arms around her waist before she rested her forearms on my shoulders. I chuckled at my slip up but smiled down at her lovingly. "I can be the Quinn in their blossoming romance."

I puffed out a giggle and shook my head, "What _blossoming_ romance?"

The crowd's cheering for the amazing dance routine yours truly had choreographed caused Santana to pause for a second so we could both watch the stage with proud smiles. They nailed every move with precision, I feel like a proud mama looking down at them.

As the dance ended, Mercedes took the stage again and began singing another chart topper.

"Don't tell me you haven't seen the looks, Britt. They're always having lunch together, always smiling those goofy smiles, and let's not forget Jeremy's heroic act at the Christmas party when Jenna's douche bag of a boyfriend decided to act like the piece of shit that he is-"

"Babe.." I warned at seeing her ruffling up her own feathers. She took a calming deep breath and sighed.

"He wants her and she wants him, it's obvious. It's fate, you don't fuck with fate." She stated sternly while I just shook my head at her naughty mouth, "Our assistants are going to get together and have a whole shi-mess load of assistant babies. They'll pop out of there wearing like a blazer and sweat pants, it'll be cute."

"And what about Jenna's boyfriend?" I questioned, "She's still with him.."

"Minor details, babe, minor." San waved off casually.

"Yeah, okay honey, whatever you say." I replied while rubbing my hands up and down her back and trying to keep from laughing at the inner matchmaker trying to take over her.

"So it's settled?" She asked with this mischievous look in her eyes, "Jenna's going too?"

"Uhhh.." I hummed out, skeptical because of San's intentions of this little dinner but one look into her twin pools of brown had me doing whatever she wanted. "Well, I wouldn't want to disrupt the soul mate flow." I teased lightly, "And I don't think Jeremy would want to be like the third wheel or anything.."

"And with Jenna there, he won't be!" San cheered and rolled up on her toes to peck my cheek, "This'll be awesome, just watch!" I laughed at her enthusiasm as we went back to watching the show.

As intermission rolled around, San and I made our way towards the backstage where Mercedes' dressing room was located. News of our arrival circulated quickly and within a few minutes, all of my dancers and Jeremy had gathered in the huge room meant only for the star of the show.

"You were awesome up there!" I cheered as the dancers came over to see us, "I'm so proud of you all! Especially you, Mercedes, you were amazing up there!"

"Thanks girl, I've learned from the best." Mercedes replied throwing a wink in San's direction.

"You're damn right!" Santana nodded, tossing her hand up in the air and high fiving Mercedes.

"We didn't know you were coming, Britt, we would've gone a whole 100 percent instead of 1,000 if we knew you and Santana were in the audience! Jeremy teased as he walked up to give San and I a hug.

"I probably wouldn't even be able to tell the difference!" San laughed before turning away to talk to Mercedes who was hurried off to start a round of touch ups. I turned back to the horde of dancers surrounding me, giving my praises before shooing them out so I can talk to Jeremy without them hovering.

"Get ready for the second half, guys, get hydrated too. You're going to need it!" Jeremy called over his shoulder as the group filed out of Mercedes' dressing room to do as they were told.

"Good luck, guys!" I called out to the exiting group before turning my attention on my assistant choreographer, "You're doing a really great job, Jeremy."

"Thanks." He answered politely, "They're an awesome bunch."

"I agree," I replied, "You happy that it's all coming to an end? The tour, I mean."

Jeremy chuckled, his broad shoulders bouncing a little as he laughed, "Well..I can't say that I'm devastated that I'll be back at the usual studio where there's great air condition. Touring was nice while it lasted, I'll miss it I think. It was a great bonding experience, I feel like I've grown a lot closer to everyone."

"I bet! I'm glad that you took the job so willingly; I just couldn't see myself going on tour and being away from Santana for so long. You know? I mean, it would've been awesome to be with you all dancing and stuff but now just isn't the right time."

"Oh yeah, I understand that. She needs you more than the dancers do right now; we all understand that for sure!" Jeremy replied before taking a swig of water. "How is she doing? It's getting close, huh?"

I looked over my shoulder at Santana talking adamantly to Mercedes, mostly good things by the way she was smiling so proudly, then looked to Jeremy again, "Yeah, just another month! I think she's starting to get antsy though, I always find her organizing and reorganizing the nursery. It's kind of cute. Other than that, things are going great, we started up Lamaze classes and they're really helping us get prepared."

"That's awesome, my sister was so against those classes too but she ended up really loving them."

"You have a sister? Weird, I swore you were an only child." I laughed then saw a glimpse of Santana waving to Jenna and remembered the little _mission_ she created. "But hey, Santana and I were talking earlier about all going out to dinner afterwards? You know, sort of a celebratory thing. Just San and I, you, and I think Jenna's going." Suddenly Jeremy's usually relaxed shoulders tensed at hearing the last name mentioned as his eyes widened a little.

"Jenna's going?" He mumbled looking lost all of a sudden. I recognized that distant look in his eyes and tried to keep from laughing. San was totally right about our assistants having a thing for each other!

"Uhm, yeah. Is that okay? We haven't actually asked her yet." I asked skeptically, "San's wanting to take our assistants out just to thank you guys for what an awesome job you're all doing while we're kind of tied up."

"Oh yeah, that's fine!" He answered a little too quickly. Realized Santana was right this whole time, I decided to gain in on her plan.

"Cool, well she's over there by the water dispenser next to Santana. Could you tell her about the news?"

"Sure, yeah!" He grinned excitedly and jogged away. I smiled at the pair looking completely smitten yet oblivious to each other's real feelings. Oh how I _don't_ miss being in that position at all. I watched adoringly as Santana and Mercedes chatted lively about the show while Jeremy and Jenna talked about dinner. It just made me feel so, I don't know; warm to be in a room filled with such love. It wasn't just romantic feelings swirling around though; there was love for your friends, your employees, your assistants. It was a nice vibe going.

Suddenly the calmness of the room turned chaotic as the main door to the dressing room flew open and slapped hard against the wall, surely leaving a hole from the doorknob hitting with such force. All our attention was drawn to the noise as a crowd of rowdy people forced their way in. At first I thought it was just the dancers coming back in for an impromptu flash mob, but the way the bodyguards moved swiftly to Mercedes while others tried to contain the group made me realize that this wasn't just some flash mob.

Within seconds the previously huge room was filled with a mixture of security guards and screaming fans. People were shouting their undying love for the star of the show, veins popping in their necks and their faces turning deep shades of red at how much energy they were exerting into their yells. High pitched squeals and low, throaty demands flew around the room causing my head to spin while fans scrambled over each other ruthlessly; all targeting one person before realizing the room contained more than one bright shiny star. No one knew Santana and I were here and oh how I wish that at this very moment we could be invisible.

It was like I wasn't even there at all, like this wasn't really happening. All the screaming and yelling combined creating one giant noise that was just so loud that it blurred everything out to the point where there wasn't any noise at all, only silence; or so I thought. I stood motionless, stunned, at how quickly the calm of the room was disrupted, but as a body of some fan being wrestled to the floor by a guard caused someone else to collide into me, nearly knocking me to the floor, I was jolted out of my stupor.

"Santana." I breathed out, my chest tightening as a flood of negative thoughts over took me. Louder I began to call out Santana's name, pleading.

"Brittany!" I heard her faintly. I quickly looked to the other side of the room where Santana and Mercedes were before everything happened and tried kicking my legs into motion, only to be tackled to the floor.

"Get the fuck off me!" I yelled trying to fight off a fan that had fallen on me and was already attempting to stand back up, but with so many people running around, it was difficult for me to get back on my feet. Each time I'd get to my knees and push myself up, I'd feel a body slam into my shoulder or trip over my feet causing my stance to wobble. I knew I was getting pretty banged up on the floor, but I felt nothing, heard nothing, only the thoughts of Santana and her wellbeing mattered.

With a sudden burst of energy, I scrambled to my feet and dodged the bodies still rushing around. The sounds of lamps being smashed and wood snapping echoed against my ear as I tried pushing past the bodies. "Santana! Baby, where are you?" I yelled but my call fell on deaf ears. Now, deep into the mass of people, I found Jeremy struggling to pry the hands of some crazy fan off a bodyguard's neck. "Jeremy!" I called as he threw his shoulder into the guy in order to keep him from completely strangling the guard. I shoved past people trying to get to Jeremy as he fell to the floor on top of the man. I knew first hand that being on the floor at a time like this wasn't such a good idea. Suddenly another person wrapped themselves around Jeremy's torso making the both of them stay stuck on the floor.

With strength I didn't know I possessed, I lunged forward, fist first, and collided my knuckles into the man's jaw, successfully knocking him out. Without a word, or a moment to take in the fact that I just knocked someone out, I grabbed a fistful of Jeremy's shirt and hauled him up to his feet.

"Santana? Where's San-"

"Brittany!" My wife's shrieking cut me off as I saw her clinging to Mercedes and Jenna for dear life. The two were attempting to cover Santana as best as they could while a clearly outnumbered handful of bodyguards tried to control the crowd headed straight for them.

"I'm coming, honey, I'm here!" I yelled over the many voices bouncing off the walls in the room. I was still a good 6 or 7 feet away but even from that distance I could see the fear in her eyes. Santana's not afraid of many things, or so she wants people to think, but even this can break that wall down. I looked to Jeremy and silently agreed that we were pushing pass all these people to get to her. Ducking and dodging bodies as they rammed into ours, we drudged on through. Broken glass crunched beneath my shoes as I got closer to Santana. My heart was racing, the beat pounding in my ears competing with the guards' attempts to control things and the unfazed fans' screams.

Tears threatened to fall as Jeremy and I continued to pry hands off our bodies and push people away. I clenched my jaw tight, swallowing the lump in my throat forming because of the thought of Santana getting hurt. Or worse, the baby. I bit down on my bottom lip trying to will the tears from falling. I can't lose Santana, not now. I can't lose them both, I can't.

"Fucking move!" I spat as I shoved another fan out of the way, only two more keeping me from getting to Santana. I was losing energy quickly already, my legs weak from all the lunges made to shove bodies twice the size of mine out of the way. Luckily Jeremy was able to shoulder the last two away in time for me to jump to Santana. I wrapped my arms around her tightly, pressing watery kisses to her tear stained cheeks. "Are you okay?" I choked out, still unable to unwrap myself from her while Jeremy checked on Mercedes and Jenna. Mostly Jenna.

"Uh-huh," San whimpered and laid her hands over her belly protectively. I nodded and placed a hand over hers and kissed her cheek again.

"We're getting out of here right now, okay?" I said sternly and looked to Jeremy who was already yelling for the guards to move us out of the room.

"Where the hell are all the cops?" He demanded as he stood off to the side of Santana, Jenna and Mercedes following closely behind while two guards led the way out of the room. I wrapped my arm around San's shoulders and kept her head tucked under my chin as we slowly made our way through the somewhat controlled crowd. More guards were rushing in making it easier for us to escape the chaos until one of the guards leading the way was brought down to the floor by a fan already in the middle of being subdued. The abrupt halt caused Santana and I to stumble as well, but with my reflexes being quicker than Santana's, I was able to brace myself on the fallen guards back while Santana was brought down to one knee.

"Shit!" She cried as her bare knee connected with shattered glass. Hearing the dull thud followed by her shrill cry had me spinning around quickly, trying to help Santana off of the floor before things got too heated. Knowing that she couldn't move too fast, I tried shielding her from the tossing bodies around us while she attempted to stand on her own. Jenna and Mercedes bent over cautiously, attempting to help her up as well only to have a guard accidently bump into Mercedes causing her to lose her balance.

"Come on, baby, you gotta get up off the floor." I begged trying to get her to focus on standing up. I could already see the blood pooling on the floor but with San's belly in the way, she wasn't able to see. I swallowed the lump forming yet again and tried to keep calm for her as I reached for her waist. "Grab my shoulders, honey." She nodded with a pained expression as her forehead wrinkled. Her hands reached for my shoulders and her fingers tightened against my skin. "Good, baby, I'm going to lift okay? Hold on to me." She nodded again and let me pull her up to her full stance again.

We were at a standstill as the guards tried to regain control of the rowdy horde. I looked over to see Jeremy trying to keep the fans from rushing at Mercedes since the two guards meant to protect her had their hands full. I whipped my head around to check our distance from here to the door and decided that we could get there "Jeremy, let's go! This way!" I called behind me, attempting to grab at his shirt to get his attention while still having my arm around Santana.

"Jenna, Mercedes, get behind me!" He directed as we all huddled together and slowly made our way to the exit, he standing off to the other side of Santana while Jenna and Mercedes followed behind. Guards repositioned themselves at our sides again attempting to block the people from attacking us when something silver caught my eye. My breath hitched as I subconsciously tightened my hold Santana's waist, hoping that I could protect her half as well as I promised I would.

Time has slowed down plenty times in my life, but never like this; never because I thought I was about to have the very thing taken away from me.

"Knife!" I heard someone call out, but the sound seemed so far away already. With a last leap of faith, I pulled Santana to me, shielding her entire body with mine. I felt the strands of her hair threading through my fingers as its scent filled my senses. I felt the bulge of her belly pressing into mine as my arms tightened around her torso, feeling her body shudder against me. I felt the softness of her skin, its warmth radiating.

I stared down at her long dark locks, amazed how even in all this chaos it still kept its bounce, and smiled at how much I loved how she's grown her bangs out, and remembering the day I talked her out of cutting it, and remembering what she wore that day, and remembering how cute she looked puffing out her cheeks at my suggestion, and remembering how much I loved playing with her long hair. Then I remembered the first time I ever saw Santana: the first coffee order I ever took from her, the first nickname she ever gave me, the first time my clumsiness got the better of me when I was around her, our first hug, our first date, our first kiss, the first time we made love.. I remembered where we started and how far we've come.

With a smile on my lips, I closed my eyes, content with the idea that if I died this very second, I'd actually be fine with that.


End file.
